Divergence
by Author Roy
Summary: AU. Starts during the mission in Wave Country. Sasuke discovers something about one of his teammates that completely upsets his understanding of her...
1. Chapter 1

**Standard Procedure:**

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of the characters used in this chapter.

--

Sasuke grunted as he kicked at a bush, not bothering to step over it. He looked around in annoyance as he recalled exactly why he was out after midnight.

He was out looking for the dobe – not that he cared about Naruto, but the fact that Naruto hadn't come back yet again was bothering him; if something had happened to him, or he was dead, then it could serve to alert the other, more competent ninja (Himself and Kakashi, of course). And Naruto had proven to be a valuable ally in the last battle, against a jounin level ninja no less- and could (hopefully) prove to be just as useful in another fight. Yeah, that was what it was.

Anyway, he was out in the near pitch black at an ungodly hour looking for the dumbest ninja in his group, and had been for a good ten minutes. Yet still there was no sign of the dobe anywhere. 'Maybe he went back while I was out?' Sasuke frowned at the thought – it would be just like the idiot to go home when someone finally came out looking for him. Sasuke sighed internally, sure right now that that was had happened, and turned around to start heading back to Tazuna's place.

He blinked as he almost right away stumbled upon the sleeping body of Naruto. Sasuke frowned again.

'The idiot fell asleep training?' He thought. It was obvious enough – there were marks all around the clearing, and the dobe's clothes were dirty and torn from whatever he had been doing. There was also a kunai in his hand, and he was sure the idiot wasn't unconscious, only out from exhaustion. He sighed, debating whether or not to drag the moron back to Tazuna's. 'I should leave him here, no one would care…'

"Oi…teme…" Sasuke jerked at the sudden noise, before narrowing his eyes at the other boy.

"You're awake?" Sasuke frowned walking over to the other boy and soon realized that Naruto was still sleep, as his eyes were closed and he didn't seem to really be paying any attention to Sasuke.

"Sasuke-teme…Lay off my ramen…you bastard…" Sasuke snorted as he looked down at the blonde.

"May as well," he muttered as he knelt down and grabbed the other boy right below the shoulders, ready to hoist him over one of his own, when the blinked as he noticed something beneath his jacket. The thing, torn up as it was, wasn't doing as good a job as it could to cover the boy, and Sasuke could see some bandages beneath the jacket and shirt, through some holes.

'The idiot hurt himself?' He frowned as he released his hold on the boy. 'If he's been hurt, then he should have told someone. He tries to be so tough, but if he went into a fight and no one knew he was injured he would be a liability of the worst kind.' his frown deepened and he unzipped Naruto's obscenely orange jacket, then pulled up his shirt. The bandages were only around the upper part of his torso.

"He doesn't look too hurt…" Sasuke grumbled as he put a hand on the dobe's chest. He frowned as he searched for an injury that might warrant such an extensive use of bandages, not caring at the moment whether or not he aggravated it. His frown turned from one of mild annoyance to one of curiosity, as he couldn't find anything. 'Is it an internal injury?' he thought. That would have been worse, but somehow Sasuke doubted that it was something inside. 'He's just being stupid… Probably thinks it's cool or something.'

"Don'…Don' touch those, you bastard…" Naruto's voice came again, and Sasuke froze, feeling that he'd been caught. Annoyed, he glanced at Naruto's face, only to see that the idiot had been talking in his sleep again. Although… for some reason, the boy's cheeks were tinted pink. He glared at the boy for having tricked him (even if unintentionally). He looked down at the bandages again shook his head, hoisting him over his shoulder as he made his way back to Tazuna's place.

They arrived within minutes, and once inside Sasuke grunted with a little effort as he laid the other boy on a futon, as he wondered for the nth time that night why he had even cared enough to bring the idiot back. He paused as he stood up and looked down at the boy; apparently all the jumping Sasuke had done through the trees had jostled the other boy enough so that the grimy bandages were totally loose and all but falling off.

'He's not hurt at all.' Sasuke frowned as he moved the bandages around. "Just as I thought. What a waste of…" Sasuke froze as the bandages finally came off. His eyes widened and they immediately shot up to Naruto's face and down to his chest again. 'This… These are…' He poked the other boy's chest just to make sure that the twin mounds of flesh were real, and not a figment of his imagination. He looked up and Naruto's face seemed to be turning red again in his sleep. He looked around before deciding to perform one last test.

Slowly, nervously, as though afraid of what he'd find, he started moving a hand down towards Naruto's pants.

'Wait a minute. What am I doing?' He shook his head as he glared at Naruto's pants, then up at Naruto's face for causing his troubles. He steeled himself and quickly reached down, gripped the hem of the orange pants and Naruto's boxer shorts before lifting them up, stealing a glance and then letting go of them as if they were on fire. He stood up stiffly and stared down at the blonde ninja with a severe twitch in his face, trying desperately to keep his cool.

He suddenly noticed that the room seemed extremely warm, dropped a blanket on her haphazardly and bolted out, stopping only at the genkan to put his sandals back on. Once he was outside, he took a few calming breaths and tried to regain his composure.

'That was totally unexpected.' He thought. Several thoughts and emotions flickered through him at that moment; surprise, irritation and mostly confusion. Surprise that the dobe of all people was female, irritation for not having figured it out earlier, and confused that the idiot was doing such a thing in the first place. He shook his head and sighed in irritation; this upset his entire opinion of Naruto. Before, Naruto had been simple, but now he…

'No, she.' He reminded himself, was quickly becoming a puzzle. There was no way the moron knew how to keep a jutsu up in his…her sleep; no, it was far more realistic that the dead last of Konoha had been a girl all along. And because of that, many things the dobe had done were not making sense, which meant he would have to re-evaluate the idiot completely.

Sasuke put his hands in his pockets as he walked away from Tazuna's, deep in thought.

--

Naruto yawned groggily as she rubbed her eyes with a frown on her face.

'Uhh…' She slowly opened her eyes as she took in her surroundings. She sat up and slowly became more alert as she realized she was not outside in the forest, but in the room that she shared with Sasuke. A quick glance told her that Sasuke was already gone, but that she was not alone. Kakashi was sitting in the room with her, reading his chosen literature. 'Wait a minute…I fell asleep outside like the other days… what am I doing here?' She tried to think of a reason she could be there and blinked as it came to her suddenly.

'Kakashi-sensei must have gotten worried about me and carried me home…' She thought, looking at her teacher gratefully. She yawned and looked down at her chest under the blanket as she realized that her bindings had gotten a loose. 'Good thing Sasuke's not here,' She thought as she took off her jacket. 'And it's a good thing I brought an extra jacket too…'

"O-oi, sensei," she called out. "I'm gonna get a change of clothes on," she said, holding up her torn jacket.. Kakashi looked at her from the corner of his eye and blinked.

"Okay, but why do you insist on wearing the bandages under the shirt? I think the shirt and jacket together are enough to hide those…" He joked. Naruto stuck out her tongue at him. "Before I go, did you by chance hear or see Sasuke leaving after you got back?" Naruto blinked at that and thought for a moment.

"…I didn't see him," She said, frowning. "But sensei, didn't you bring me back? Wouldn't you have seen him leave?"

"I was in my own room when I felt him leaving…" Kakashi said evasively as he pocketed his book and then grabbed his crutches to stand. "I just thought he might have mentioned where he was going or how long." Naruto's frown deepened at that and she cocked her head to the side as she crossed her arms, thinking. 'He's been gone for a while? And hasn't come back yet…' Naruto's eyes widened.

"You think maybe he was ambushed or something?" She asked excitedly. "And then it'll be my job to rescue him! Heheh, and he'll finally realize who's the better ninja," she muttered the last part under her breath. Kakashi started sweating as he heard that last part.

"Naruto…" He started. 'If you came to help in a situation like that it would probably go from bad to worse, as you are now…' "…Don't worry about Sasuke. I'm sure he's fine." He stood and started hobbling out of the room. "Breakfast should be ready soon, so hurry up and come down," he said as he exited.

"All right, then…" She said as she pulled off her shirt (which had for some reason been pulled up…) to re-adjust the bandages. Once she was done with that, she decided her shirt was well enough as it was before putting it back on and grabbed her pack and pulled out her spare jacket.

-

Moments later Naruto walked into the dining room, stifling a yawn with her hand as she did so. Inari and Tazuna were already sitting down at the table while Kakashi sat down away from them. She joined them and Sakura followed moments later just as Tsunami served their breakfast.

"So, Sasuke didn't come back last night?" Tazuna asked as the last ninja joined them.

"That's right, I think he was captured by enemy ninja," Naruto said casually.

"As if," Sakura started, with a vein showing in her forehead. She had a very low tolerance for negative talk about Sasuke-kun, after all. "Sasuke-kun probably mastered tree climbing all on his own tonight. He's probably ready to come with us today,"

"I dunno," Naruto started. "I think the enemy ninja thing is more likely with that teme. Probably underestimated them all or somethin'," she muttered the last part under her breath.

'He does have an ego…' Kakashi acknowledged privately, giving a bored look to Sakura. 'And she and all those other little academy girlies aren't helping at all as far as that's concerned…'

"Maybe he just went so high he's afraid to come down," Naruto said thoughtfully. Kakashi and Tazuna chuckled at that but Sakura was visibly steamed. As Tsunami set Sakura's food before her, Naruto stood up.

"I'm goin' for a walk," She announced lazily. Sakura glanced down at the blonde kunoichi's plate as she noticed that Naruto was already finished.

"That's disgusting," She started angrily. "Can't you at least eat properly?" She asked. Naruto snorted as she opened the door.

"'s for wussies," She quipped, walking out and closing the door behind her. Sakura fumed as she took slow, purposeful bites of her own food.

"How can he just…" When the chopsticks in her hands snapped, Kakashi cleared his voice and decided to speak up.

"Sakura…" Kakashi started. "Believe it or not, Naruto is probably worried about Sasuke too. I'm sure that's why he's taking a 'walk'." Sakura looked at him apologetically.

"I know, but… that Naruto makes me so mad… he's so annoying!"

"Ah, well, you know boys at their age don't like to show weakness," Tsunami said thoughtfully.

"He's just trying not to seem like a sissy or something." Tazuna added, agreeing. Sakura looked down at her half-eaten food, feeling her appetite leave her and Kakashi chuckled.

"Don't worry about it. They'll both be fine."

"All right…" Sakura let it drop and she continued eating, this time a bit less aggressively. Kakashi nodded at that, secretly pleased that she understood and was genuinely worried about her team. His gaze turned to the door.

'Sasuke… These two are your only hope, it seems…I just hope you don't make the same mistakes I did with Obito and Rin…'

--

Sasuke frowned from his position in the tree, staring up at the blue sky through the branches. After finding out that one of his teammates had fooled them all in a most spectacular way, he hadn't been able to go back to sleep and quickly decided to make use of his time in the most efficient way possible; that is, training himself in the tree-climbing exercise, while attempting to unravel the mystery that was one Uzumaki Naruto. Now, because of his extra training, he had more than tripled the height that he could reach and was closing in on the top.

But that didn't mean he was anywhere closer to figuring out Naruto.

'Naruto…' Sasuke shook his head. 'I had no idea at all…I will have to watch you closer. I don't have enough information to form a satisfactory conclusion about you.' Annoyed that he was spending so much time re-thinking his opinion of someone he had written off as a moron with no potential as a ninja for so long, Sasuke tried to think of something else. The sun had started coming up about an hour earlier, and he could tell it would be breakfast at Tazuna's soon. He dropped from the tree, landing noiselessly in the grass below. He stood up and turned around to walk to Tazuna's but froze as he realized there was someone standing right there.

"Hello," a young, pretty looking person – boy, Sasuke noted with a quick glance to his neck, wearing a pink kimono was standing before him. "Are you a ninja?" Sasuke slowly nodded and the other boy… giggled, which more than slightly disturbed him. "You're not a very good one," He said. "You aren't very observant,"

"If I wasn't observant I wouldn't have noticed you were a boy." Sasuke noted with a piercing glare.

"Ha ha, I guess that's true," the feminine boy said, suddenly looking at the boy in front of him in a new light. "What were you doing up there?"

"I was training." Sasuke grunted. 'Something feels off about this guy…' he noted.

"But you already look so strong. What more could you possibly need to train for?" the boy asked, cocking his head to the side.

"It's none of your business," Sasuke muttered, but the other boy pretended not to hear.

"Hm?"

"…I need to get stronger so I can kill a certain man." Sasuke found himself answering, against his better judgement.

"So you can defeat someone…" the other boy repeated thoughtfully. "That doesn't seem to be a very good reason," He frowned.

"Hmph, whatever." Sasuke muttered as he turned to walk around the boy. Sasuke stopped when he was a good ten feet away, as he realized the other boy hadn't moved. He turned around and looked at the boy.

"I think… that a person truly becomes strong when they have something precious to protect…" the boy said. Right after that, he continued walking in the direction he was facing.

"Hn." Sasuke frowned.

"Oi, Sasuke," came a whispered voice from the side. Sasuke blinked and he turned to look the person to his side.

"Naruto." Sasuke acknowledged the other ninja.

"Who was that?" Naruto asked, pointing at the kimono-clad boy.

"I don't know, and I don't care," Sasuke said as he continued to walk to Tazuna's. "But something was weird about him."

"What was that last thing she was saying anyway, about protecting people?" Naruto asked again as she turned to follow.

"He," Sasuke corrected. "It's not so hard to believe that there's a guy who looks so much like a girl, is there?" Sasuke asked with a smirk on his face. "Especially for you."

"W-what?"

"Nothing, forget about it. It's breakfast soon, right?"

"It had just started when I left, and I already finished," Naruto said. "But knowing Sakura-chan, she probably made sure someone saved something for you," she grumbled.

"Oh?" Sasuke asked as he stopped. 'That girl…' his mood turned sour at the thought of the pink haired Kunoichi. He didn't necessarily dislike her, as much as he found her annoying and meddlesome. He glanced at the blonde ninja and suddenly realized he wasn't as hungry as he'd thought. "Naruto…" He started.

"Eh?" The blond girl looked up at him in confusion. Sasuke looked a bit more distracted than usual, so obviously there was something wrong. "What do you want?" Sasuke glanced at the…Kunoichi to his side. 'Why the hell are you pretending to be a boy?' he had wanted to say. Instead, he settled for a grunt and merely stopped. Naruto looked at him in confusion. "Aren't you gonna go back for food?"

"I can go a little longer without," Sasuke snorted. "Unlike some people, I'm trained to survive under those kind of circumstances."

"E-eh?!" Naruto asked, her face reddening with anger. "What's your problem? Quit being so dramatic when there's no reason to!"

"Hn," Sasuke glanced at her, a look of disinterest plastered on his face. "Whatever, dobe." Sasuke reached into his supply pack and pulled out a kunai that he had been using earlier. He flipped it in his hand and suddenly started running towards a tall tree. Naruto growled as she did the same and began up a different tree determined to do better than the Uchiha. She soon noted that he was going much higher than she was and scowled in frustration.

'What the hell?! I trained all those nights several times in a row and only got a little better, but he trains extra one night and he's gotten way better!' she exerted herself in an attempt to catch up, but that proved to be a mistake as the burst of chakra sent her flying head first into another tree. Sasuke stopped at a branch when he heard Naruto crash into another tree, and the cursing and yelling that came as a result.

"You total moron," He sighed, shaking his head. He turned back to his own tree and started running up again from the branch he'd stopped on.

--

Sakura looked around, slightly worried as she and Kakashi looked through the forest. "Sasuke-kun's been out all night and Naruto never came back from his walk," She said. "I'm not too worried about Naruto, but Sasuke-kun never even came back for breakfast!"

"They're both tough," Kakashi said, unconcernedly. 'Not 'too' worried about Naruto?' he smiled, as that was better than not worried at all and another improvement over the previous day. "They're both fine, I'm sure." He said. They kept walking for a few minutes when they heard some noises coming from further ahead. Sakura quickened her pace and stopped just beneath a tree where Naruto was lying on a branch.

"Eh? Naruto?" Sakura blinked in surprise. "You got that high?!" She asked, incredulously.

"Oh?" Naruto opened her eyes as she looked down at Sakura. "Oiii! Sakura-chan!" Naruto grinned and hopped up to her feet. "Look how high I can climb now!" She stood there, grinning at them for a few barely a second, before she suddenly 'tripped' and started falling backwards. "E-eh!?"

"Ah! You idiot!" Sakura shouted, panicked. Naruto fell off the side of the branch…only to end up standing on the bottom. Both Sakura, and Kakashi, who'd just arrived, looked at her in shock.

"Haha! You fell for it!" the blonde girl laughed.

"What…" Sakura growled. "That was horrible! I was worried!"

"Eh?" Naruto's eyes widened. "Sakura-chan…worried about me? Heheh, how sweet!" She said just as she fell from the tree.

"Hey! Stop showing off already!"

"YAAAAAAAAA-ack!" Naruto's fall was halted as a blur flew up, caught her, and landed on the branch.

"You moron," Sasuke muttered. He let go of her and she stood up on her own, frowning at him.

"Sasuke…"

"Oh wow! Sasuke's the best!" Sakura yelled happily at his rescue. Kakashi looked at the both of them with an appraising eye.

"What are you two doing here?" Sasuke asked.

"Oh, we were worried about you two," Sakura said as she seemed to remember the reason they came. "So we came to check up on you!"

"More like check up on 'Sasuke-kun'." Naruto muttered, saying Sasuke's name in a whiny imitation of Sakura's voice, crossing her arms. Sasuke merely raised a brow at the apparent jealousy and shrugged, dropping down from the tree.

"I was actually just getting hungry," the boy said as he shoved his hands in his pockets and started walking in the direction Sakura and Kakashi had come. "You guys were going to have lunch, right?"

"Oh! Now you want to eat!" Naruto yelled, angrily.

"…Shut up, idiot."

"Yeah! Leave Sasuke-kun alone!"

"Eh…" Naruto scowled angrily. "Fine! You go eat your lunch! I'm going to keep on training!" She turned around and started running up the tree again.

Sasuke spared her a glance as he kept walking. 'That Naruto… gets harder to understand every minute of each day…' he frowned as he continued walking, ignoring Sakura's attempts to call his name. 'And then I find out that he's…well, a she,' Sasuke's grimace deepened. 'What else could you be hiding from us, Naruto? If you're able to hide something so big from us… who's to say there isn't something bigger?' He vowed to start paying more attention to the outwardly simple ninja who had just become a troublesome puzzle.

Sasuke was of the mind that knowledge was power, and Sasuke was unnerved that he had been so limited in relation to Naruto. 'I wonder if even Kakashi-sensei knows about this…he doesn't seem like he's all there some times, and this would be just the thing to get by him…'

--

Much later, Sasuke approached the trees where he knew Naruto was. The girl was cursing and panting loudly as she stumbled off the side of a tree. Sasuke stood at the edge of the clearing, watching as Naruto slid down the tree a bit more gracefully than she had hours before. She fell down on her bottom in exhaustion as she panted heavily, looking at the tree as if she and it were the bitterest of enemies.

"Dammit…" She coughed out. "Dammit!" She slammed her fist in the ground beside her and tried to stand once more. "I'll…get that teme… to acknowledge my existence…as a ninja!" She bit out the last bit more forcefully as she stood up.

'Does my opinion matter that much..?' Sasuke watched silently as she took a few more deep breaths and then sprinted, running up the tree faster than he'd seen her move before. She disappeared up the top of the tree and when he could no longer see or hear her, he decided to follow her up.

-

Naruto panted as she looked up at the quarter moon from her perch on the very top of one of the taller trees in the forest.

"Hah…hah… I doubt the teme ever got this far," she muttered, exhausted.

"Oi, dobe," came a voice from directly below her. Naruto jolted from the shock and almost let got of the tree. Once she had her bearings back together, she glared below at the source of the voice. Sasuke was standing on one of the branches below her.

"…Sasuke? What do you want, teme?" Sasuke casually shrugged as he looked up at the moon.

"I need to talk to you about something."

"Eh?" Naruto blinked. There was none of the usual sarcasm or conceit in his voice. "What? What's wrong, teme? You've been acting kind of weird all day…"

"Why are you pretending to be a boy?" He blurted out suddenly. Naruto's blood ran cold at the question and she slowly turned her head to face him. He was looking right back at her.

"Wh-what the hell are you talking about?" She asked haltingly, panic written clearly on her features.

"Hn." Sasuke gave her a half lidded stare. Had he been mistaken in his initial observation? It had been late at night, so it was possible he had been hallucinating or in some kind of half-dream state… 'No,' He thought suddenly. 'There's no way I'm wrong. You're a girl.'

"I'm not pretending, you asshole!" she yelled.

"Oh really?" Sasuke asked with a smirk. "You can't hide that kind of thing from me. I figured it out a little while ago, but I haven't been able to figure out any possible reason you would do such a thing." He half-lied, deciding Naruto might be more forthcoming with information if he claimed to have known longer than one day. Naruto was silent for a while, as she stared at Sasuke. Her face betrayed her conflicting emotions, and she merely grunted before looking back up at the moon. "Besides, who do you think carried you home last night? I could have easily found out then if I hadn't already known. You need to be more carefully. Be glad Sakura doesn't care about you as much as you seem to want her to."

"I guess you ain't the number one rookie for nothin'," Naruto said in a low voice. "…Though, Shika and Kiba figured it out first." Sasuke's eyes narrowed in recognition at those two names.

"Shikamaru and Kiba?" He asked, trying to remember the two. Sasuke frowned; He hadn't really paid much attention to any one aside from first impressions and passing glances, which was part of what had landed him in his current situation.

"Un," she grunted half-heartedly. "Shikamaru is just scary smart and Kiba…well he's half dog, you know," She snorted.

"I see," Sasuke nodded - it made a little bit of sense; dogs could tell male from female from scent alone. "So…" He started. "Why are you doing that, anyway? You look and act so much like a boy it's creepy."

"Heheh, I've had tons of practice and all of my friends were guys when I was younger… Well, if you could really call them friends…"

"Hn… How long have you been doing this again? Since you started at the Academy? Why?"

"Since way before then," Naruto snorted. "And why do you care all of a sudden?" Naruto asked as she glared down at him. "We're not friends or anything." She reminded him.

"…Really." Sasuke said, looking away from her. "Of course. It's none of my business. We're just teammates." He was about to leave when Naruto called out to him.

"O-oi!" Sasuke looked up at her.

"What?"

"Er… help me down?" She asked. And it was just then that Sasuke noted how tightly she was clinging to the top of the tree. "Heheheh…"

"You…moron," Sasuke sighed turned back to her.

"You're not gonna tell anyone about this, though, right?" She asked as he slid one of her arms over his shoulders and wrapped an arm around her waist.

"It's not my secret to tell," He shrugged. "Besides, it's not really that important. I was just curious." Naruto stared at him as he started jumping down the tree, branch by branch.

--

"Ah, you found him," Kakashi said as the two walked into Tazuna's house. He raised his only visible eyebrow as Sasuke smirked.

"You could say that." Naruto glanced at Sasuke and decided to say something.

"We both made it to the top." She said, with a grin.

"Good," Kakashi nodded. "Then you two can accompany us tomorrow with Tazuna-san to the bridge." Naruto's grin widened.

"Alright!" Sasuke walked over to the dinner table and set her down on a chair and Sasuke sat himself opposite from her just as dinner was served. When they were done, Naruto was slumped over the table and Tazuna decided to make small talk.

"The bridge is almost complete, thanks to you guys. But, I wanted to ask you earlier…" All of the Konoha-nin looked at him expectantly. "Why are you all still here when I lied about the mission?" Before any of the three Genin could respond, Kakashi spoke up.

"'To abandon one's duty is not courageous. Below the courageous, there is nothing.' These are the Shodaime's words." There was silence as most of the table's occupants considered that. Naruto looked up as she noticed Inari crying.

"Why…"

'What the hell…' She thought. "What?"

"Why do you all keep trying so hard? You can't beat Gatou's men even if you try! Now matter how hard you work, or how big you talk… the weak can not win against the strong!"

'This little punk…' Naruto narrowed her eyes as she looked at the boy. "Shut up! We're different than you!"

"You shut up! Seeing you pisses me off! You don't even know anything about this country, and yet you butt in! You haven't had a rough life! You're always having fun and laughing!" Naruto's face darkened with rage as he spoke.

"So…like an actor in a tragic play, you're going to cry all day long? An idiot like you should just keep crying! You little sissy!" Inari froze up and Sakura scowled at Naruto.

"Naruto! You went too far!" Naruto snorted and stood up, walking away. Sasuke watched her walk away out of the corner of his eye. Inari stood up and ran out of the room and Tazuna sighed as Tsunami went about picking up the dishes, moving a bit slower than she had earlier. Sasuke frowned and stood up as he walked out of the room.

--

Sasuke looked up at the night sky from Tazuna's roof. 'Haven't had a rough life…' He snorted. 'That boy…makes me angry, thinking he knows everything.' He glared up at the moon. "But Naruto was right. You can only cry so much before it's unacceptable… Doing such a thing excessively like that…it's a total waste." Sasuke stood up and was turned to climb back into the window when he heard Kakashi's voice.

"Can I join you?" Sasuke blinked as the sound was coming from below. He walked over to the edge of the roof and spotted Kakashi sitting next to Inari. After a brief pause as he sat down next to the much smaller boy, Kakashi continued. "Naruto didn't mean everything he said back there. Sometimes he just doesn't think…" Kakashi paused again to let it sink in. "We heard about your father from Tazuna," He started, "Like you, Naruto didn't have a father when he was growing up… actually, Naruto never knew either of his parents. He never even had any real friends…" Inari looked up as Kakashi continued.

"My other student's entire family was murdered years ago as well, and because of that he's been a loner for as long as I've known him…" Sasuke froze up at the reference to himself. "He and Naruto seem to have connected on some level recently. But… I've never seen either one of them cry or complain once. Naruto is always trying his best to get people to acknowledge him, especially Sasuke. And Sasuke… He's been too bent on getting stronger to care about anything else…" Kakashi paused and looked down at the water.

"They're probably both sick and tired of crying. Naruto understands what it's like to be truly strong, just like your father…He may understand your feelings better than anyone. The things Naruto told you tonight… are probably things he's told himself many times." Kakashi stood up. "Well, that's all I wanted to say…" He turned around and walked away. Inari watched as he vanished in a puff of smoke.

-

Sasuke looked down even as Inari went back into the house, in thought. 'Is that what you think, Kakashi?' Sasuke turned around, walking right into his Jounin-sensei.

"Hm?" Sasuke looked at Kakashi warily. "What?"

"It's rude to listen in on other people's conversations," The silver-haired jounin remarked in a mock-scolding voice, crossing his arms.

"Did you want to tell me something or are you going to waste my time?" Sasuke demanded impatiently. Kakashi regarded him for a few moments before speaking again.

"…You've been even more reclusive than usual today." The older man commented. "Is something on your mind?" It was Sasuke's turn to regard the man.

'Perceptive bastard when he wants to be,' Sasuke noted. "I recently discovered something… disturbing."

"It's about Naruto." Sasuke gave a slight nod and Kakashi tensed. "What did you find out?"

"You did know about Naruto's gender, right?" Sasuke turned to face the moon, watching Kakashi out of the corner of his eyes as he waited for a response.

"Of course. So, how did you figure it out?" Kakashi relaxed, to which Sasuke made a mental note.

"There were enough clues," the Uchiha replied tersely. Kakashi raised his eyebrow as he could have sworn Sasuke's face had a reddish tint as he answered that question.

"…Well?" Kakashi asked.

"Well what?" Sasuke inquired, looking at his mentor.

"What do you plan to do with that information?"

"…Nothing." Sasuke replied after a moment's thought.

"Hm… Well, she is your teammate. Don't you feel at least a little annoyed or something that she kept such vital information from you?"

"It's not important," Sasuke said, turning away. "That's just one more girl I have to worry about," He muttered.

"I doubt you have to worry about Naruto like that," Kakashi snorted.

"What, so is she really after Sakura or something?" Sasuke asked.

"She won't tell me. She probably thinks it's funny. But I don't think so." He shrugged. "Well, you should go to bed, too. You're going to be coming with us tomorrow, remember?"

"Aa," Sasuke followed his teacher into Tazuna's house.

--

The following day, Sasuke, Sakura and Kakashi were following Tazuna to the bridge. Kakashi had explained to everyone that Naruto was still exhausted from the day before, and that he would be given the day off.

And so, Sasuke was walking beside pink-haired teammate, once again deep in thought, and only slightly annoyed by Sakura's presence. Sakura, for her part, seemed to be less focused on Sasuke and more focused on protecting Tazuna as the four walked on. Though he would catch her looking at him out of the corner of his eyes at times, those times were fewer and further between than normal, and she seemed to be looking at him with something akin to determination rather than infatuation this time…

'Did something happen?' He thought, interrupting his own thought process. 'First Naruto, and now Sakura's acting a little different…' He turned away and focused on the road again. 'This mission has been one big annoyance after another.'

--

A/N: If the name doesn't clue you in, the whole point of this story is to show the effects over a timeline that even the smallest of changes can have and how much of an impact that bigger ones can have down the line. Things really start changing next two chapters, but this has to be here to show how and why. Also, I wanted to do a 'Female Naruto' story that didn't segue into a NarutoXSasuke romance right away. Maybe eventually, but not now. I will only say this once; don't mention any of my other stories in reviews and look at my profile if you are really curious as to what is going on in my life or with those stories.

Aside from being a girl, the Naruto in this story will be more or less parallel with Canon Naruto in terms of personality. She's not going to suddenly reveal that she's been under a henge/genjutsu for ten million years and sprout hair as long as she is tall, or suddenly start acting like a wimpy girly girl (in her own words, of course) or some kind of feminist. There may be occasions where she does something completely different or extra, but since they have the same personalities and experiences to this point, she will probably be making the same choices that I feel canon Naruto would, given their situation.

I'm rather new to the Naruto fandom, having only seen the first episode some three weeks ago. I am current on the manga however, but I did not watch more than two or three of the Anime's filler episodes.


	2. Chapter 2

**Standard Procedure:**

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of the characters used in this chapter.

Uh, some intense violence later on, but the rest of the story is T.

----

Naruto looked out at the world through glazed eyes as she stared straight ahead, drool hanging out of her mouth. Her eyes widened with a sudden revelation and she shot up.

"I overslept!" She jumped out of her futon and ran to the kitchen, where Tsunami was washing dishes. "Hey, hey! Where did everyone go?" She asked in a panic.

"Ah? Naruto-kun?" the older woman blinked. "They went ahead. Sensei said you should rest…"

"Whaaat?! They left me behind?!" She vanished and literally threw her pajamas off, dressing herself in her trademark orange pants and vest in record time and ran out of the door. "I'm out!"

Naruto took to the trees, jumping from one to the next on all fours. "I knew they were gonna do something like that…" she grumbled. After just a few minutes, however, she noticed something odd in her peripheral vision and turned her head to get a better view. There was a dead boar, bleeding from several wounds. Naruto jumped down, disgusted by the gruesome sight and sniffed the air. 'Men. Two of them…' She looked around and noticed there were similar cut marks on the trees. 'Violent idiots with swords. Feh.' She looked around some more and noticed something disturbing. She sniffed the air once more just to be sure…

"They're heading to Tazuna's house…" She muttered under her breath. "But, there's no one there now but Inari and Tsunami!" Thinking quick, She suddenly made a cross seal and shouted out the name of her technique. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Three clones appeared and each of them nodded at her before doing the Henge no Jutsu. Soon, each one was a shuriken. Picking up the transformed clones, she leapt back into the trees in the opposite direction, going even faster than she had been going before.

Tazuna's house came into view in under a minute and Naruto cursed as she saw Tsunami being led away by the two men she'd detected earlier. One of them was really ugly and the other one was just really pale. 'They look like nothing, but they might be good with those little swords of theirs,' she noted. "Now for how to get Tsunami away from them-"

"Wait!" Everyone turned around see Inari standing at the entrance to the house. "Ge…get away from my mom!" He yelled as he ran at them, a desperate look on his face.

"What a stupid kid…" the ugly one said. He thumbed the hilt of his katana. "Let's kill him."

"W..wait! If you lay a hand on him, I'll bite-"

"Shut up," One of them an said, giving her a swift chop somewhere on her neck, instantly knocking her unconscious, "And go to sleep." Both men prepared to cut the boy that was running at them into ribbons, and unsheathed their swords in a flash, lunging at the boy as soon as he was near. Once their attacks were complete, they both turned around to see the result of their attack… and saw only a log in his place. "Kawarimi no jutsu…" one of them noted aloud.

They both noted the absence of their hostage.

"Sorry for being late, but a hero usually shows up at the last second." Inari looked at her in shock.

"Naruto-Nii-chan?!" Inari cried out in surprise. Naruto smiled down at him.

"Inari! You did great! Because of you, I was able to save your mom!" Inari looked at his mother and then back to Naruto.

"Nii-chan, how did you know the Samurai were coming?"

"Oh…I saw a dead boar on the way to the bridge, that was killed with a katana. Then I saw all kinds of katana cuts on the trees and noticed that they were heading towards your house. I got worried, so I came back."

"So that's how…"

"Well well," The ugly one started, "Isn't that one of those dumb ninjas that Tazuna hired?"

"Let's get him," The other one said, and they both attacked. Naruto didn't even look at them as she took two of her transformed clones and flung them at them. Both of them were blocked, as she'd planned.

"Did you think you could get us with that?" one of them said arrogantly.

"Heh…idiots." The two clones un-transformed above the samurai and kicked them directly in jaw, knocking both out. Naruto noted with pleasure that the force of their kicks had caused the men to spit out a lot of blood and figured some of their teeth had been knocked out or something. "Yeah… I did it!" She cheered. Inari looked up at her in awe.

"Yeah! You were just like a ninja!"

"Stupid! I was a Ninja from the beginning!" They shared a quick laugh and when they were done, Naruto became as serious as she could, after such a victory. "Inari, you got some rope or somethin' layin around here?"

"Of course!" The boy nodded. "You want to tie them up, right?"

"Yeah! Go get the rope!" She yelled. "I'll keep an eye on them!"

"Okay!" The small boy ran away to get the rope. Naruto only had to wait a few minutes, and soon he had returned.

"Okay, help me get these guys together," She told him and he complied. Soon, the two swordsmen were tied up with a large amount of rope. Naruto tossed them aside and smiled at Inari again, before suddenly sneezing. 'Someone must be talking about me…'

"Catching a cold?" Inari asked her?

"I'm fine," She said. "But rather than that, I wanted to tell you sorry about yesterday. Forget it." She said. "You're not a sissy. You're pretty strong." She ruffled his hair and noted that the he was sniffling. "Eh?" She looked at him and saw that there were tears on his face.

"I…I promised that I wasn't gonna cry anymore… Now you're gonna make fun of me…and call me a crybaby again…" Naruto frowned and looked away.

"…What are you talking about?" The boy looked up at her. "It's okay when you're happy."

"Naruto-nii-chan…"

"Now…" Naruto said, turning away. "I can count on you here, right?"

"Yeah!"

"All right then. I'm off to the bridge!" She took off at a sprint. "Man, it sure is tough being a hero!" She grinned as she leapt up into the trees, leaving Inari behind. 'I hope everyone else is safe…'

---

Tazuna's group arrived at the bridge, only to find that everyone there was unconscious. He took a few steps forward as the shock wore off.

"What's this? What happened here?!" The older man voiced his confusion and fear.

'Could it be…' Kakashi narrowed his only visible eye as he began sweating. 'He's already here?' The ninja all stood there looking around for any signs of the culprit just when the heavy mist started rolling in. Immediately, Kakashi was on guard. "Sasuke! Sakura!" His subordinates and Tazuna instantly fell into position behind him. "Here it comes!" Both of the genin seemed to pick up on the stress levels in his voice and armed themselves.

"Hey, Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura started, "This is his Kirigakure no Jutsu, right?"

"Sorry for the wait, Kakashi…" Zabuza's voice rang out from around them. "You're still with those brats… Poor kid, he's shaking again…" Sasuke's eyes widened as numerous Zabuza appeared all around them. After realizing they were only mizu bunshin, he smirked.

"I'm shaking with excitement," He said confidently, and the Zabuza clone in front of him smirked at that. Kakashi noted that and decided to let Sasuke take out the clones.

"Do it, Sasuke." At that, one of the mizu bunshin lunged, but Sasuke was much quicker. Using a kunai, he dealt decisive strikes to all of the mizu bunshin that had surrounded them and returned to his own spot in their four directional formation.

'I saw it!' Sasuke fought to keep the smirk off of his face. Further away, the real Zabuza and the faux-hunter-nin was by his side.

"It looks like I was right," Kakashi said. "That 'hunter-nin' was his accomplice."

"Just as we thought," Sasuke agreed. Sakura made a sound that indicated that she hadn't predicted it at all.

"So that bit about being a mist hunter-nin was a total lie?" Tazuna asked apprehensively.

"I'll fight him," Sasuke announced. "Tricking us like that with that act… I hate bastards like that the most." Kakashi started sweating as he contemplated those words.

'Is he even talking about that other guy anymore?' Sasuke didn't have to wait long for the enemy to react. The masked boy ran towards them and started spinning towards them.

'What kind of movement is that?' Sasuke narrowed his eyes at the masked boy. 'It doesn't matter, I can still see him!' He reacted just as the other boy made to swing a long needle at him by blocking it with another kunai. They broke apart and spun around before engaging again, locking blades.

"I don't want to have to kill you," the masked boy started, "But you won't give up, will you?"

"Don't be foolish."

"I see. However, you won't be able to keep up with my speed next time. Plus, I've already gained two advantages. The first is the water on the ground, and the second is that I've occupied one of your hands. You will now only be able to run from my attacks." As Sasuke inwardly frowned at the excessive monologue, the other boy raised his free hand and made several hand seals.

"Hijutsu: Sensatsu suishou." He kicked up water and it solidified into many needles, hence the technique's name. Sasuke closed his eyes and the world seemed to slow down as he remembered his training. 'Concentrate my chakra into my legs!' He jumped up into the air just as the needles flew at him and saw the masked boy below. The boy seemed to notice him just as he let go several shuriken and took the bait, dodging them and losing his focus on his surroundings. As he landed, Sasuke used the time he was occupied dodging the shuriken to run around the other boy and ran behind him.

Just as he stopped, Sasuke spoke up.

"You're too slow. From now on, you will only be able to run from my attacks." The two split apart and Sasuke made to stab the other boy with a kunai, which was blocked. He smirked and threw the kunai in his other hand, but the masked boy ducked under it. Before he could do anything though, Sasuke kicked him square in the face with enough force to send him flying away. He skid to a stop just before Zabuza's feet. "It looks like I have the advantage in speed," He remarked.

"I can't have you underestimating my team by calling them brats," Kakashi began. "Sasuke is the number one rookie in Konoha. Sakura is the smartest. And the other one is the show-offy, hyperactive number-one loudest ninja in the village, Naruto."

"Haku…" Zabuza said. "Do you see? At this rate we'll be driven back…"

"Yes…" Haku stood up and a blue aura sprang up around him.

"What?" Sasuke glared at the masked boy. 'What's with all of these surprises lately?' Sasuke didn't hear what the other boy said as he tried noticed something else. "What's this chill?" The boy made a strange hand seal, with both hands this time, Sasuke noted, and Sasuke noted something behind him. He turned around and saw ice forming right behind him. More sounds started up around him and he noticed that he was quickly becoming encased by the strange floating ice blocks.

"Hijutsu: Makyou Hyou Shou." Sasuke watched as the other boy leapt up… into one of the mirrors, with a picture of him appearing on the surface of each of the ice mirrors. "Well, shall I begin? I'll show you my true speed." One of the images flung a senbon at him and then another one from behind him followed up. Both of the needles tore right through his shirt but didn't do any damage to Sasuke himself.

'Did he do that on purpose?!' Sasuke quickly noted the two cuts on his shirt and just as more senbon started flying at him. One of the senbon finally hit his kunai out of his hand, and another one immediately hit it while it was in the air, knocking it out of the dome formed by ice mirrors. Sasuke panicked and held his hands over his head instinctively to protect the most sensitive parts of his body from damage.

From outside the dome, everyone could see that he was visibly shaking, this time with fear.

-

Naruto watched angrily as her rival was reduced to a panicking state. So far, no one had noticed her approach yet, but she hadn't figured out a way to get in and help Sasuke without becoming a target herself.

"Sasuke-kun!" Naruto looked up as she heard Sakura's voice. "Take this!" The girl flung the kunai Sasuke'd dropped at him, only for it to be caught by Haku.

'Now!' Naruto threw her last henge'd clone at Haku. It bounced off of his face with surprising force, knocking him out of the mirror. The clone flew away and exploded in a puff of smoke as the henge fell away. A continuous cloud of smoke billowed around the clone and Naruto smirked. She ran into the dome of mirrors while everyone, including Haku, was focused on her clone. Sasuke looked up at her in surprise and she held up a finger to her mouth as she picked him up, putting his arm around her shoulder and her own arm around his waist the way he had the night before, then limped out of the dome of mirrors.

"Heheheh…" Naruto chuckled to herself as she cleared the small arena. Sasuke looked at her out of the corner of his eye in surprise.

'She actually came up with a good plan for once?' Sasuke watched as the kage bunshin made a spectacular fool of itself to give them more time.

"Usually, at this point in the story, the main character shows up… and instantly kicks the bad-guy's ass!"

"Naruto!" Sakura cheered. "All right!" Kakashi winced at the display, however.

'Naruto… what's the point to an entrance like that? It only helps if you sneak up on the enemy…'

"All right!" It formed a cross seal and smirked. "Kage bunshin no-Ah!" Zabuza threw four shuriken at it and it narrowly dodged.

"Naruto! What are you doing!?"

"What kind of attack is that?The true ninja art is trickery, to fool the opponent!"

Meanwhile, a little while away from them, the real Naruto fumed. "How dare they underestimate me like that! I'll show them!"

"Once that bunshin dies and they notice I'm gone, they'll appreciate your tactics," Sasuke said. "Right now, stay calm. We probably don't have much time left, we need to come up with a plan."

"Right! Well, uh…" Naruto scratched her head. "Do you happen to know any fire jutsu?" She asked.

"Yeah, but answer me a question," Sasuke asked, frowning. "Do you know any jutsu other than Henge, Kawarimi, and Kage Bunshin?"

"Er, well not really…"

"Hmph," Sasuke frowned. 'You're giving me too many damned mixed messages, you idiot…' "…Okay, here's what we'll do…"

-

Back with everyone else. Zabuza had finally noticed that something was wrong with the scene. He glanced over at Haku's ice mirrors and his eyes widened.

"Haku!" He yelled out. Haku seemed to understand what was wrong and turned around to look Sasuke was standing there, holding another kunai and some shuriken. He smirked and tossed them at Haku, who jumped back into a mirror to dodge them. Haku then began his assault on the boy with the senbon once more.

He soon noticed that the other boy was smirking, even when he was riddled with needles. When the boy finally exploded into a cloud of smoke, he understood.

"Kage Bunshin…The blonde one was distracting us."

"Now, Naruto!" Haku noted that the sound was coming from above, and he looked up from within one of the mirrors.

"Right!" The scene that greeted him was Naruto and Sasuke, both each using one of their hands together to form two handed-hand seals. They both shouted out the name of the technique in unison as they took a deep breath.

"Katon: Goukakyuu no jutsu!"

"Katon: Goukakyuu no jutsu!"

Both ninja opened their mouths before putting their free hands infront, and they each spouted twin flame-throwers. Together, the flames increased in size exponentially to a point that was ridiculous. Haku's eyes widened at the use of a unison attack. 'Even if they both used a fire jutsu, it should not have gotten that much stronger!' He narrowed his eyes as he was forced to abandon his mirrors as the flames washed over them, melting them. He quickly worked out how it could have happened. 'One of them must be fire elemental and the other one wind elemental… When the wind user's chakra mixed with the fire user's, it exploded with force!'

"You see," Kakashi said with a smile in his voice, "They're not normal Genin. They know the value of teamwork and can already work together so well. Your apprentice can not defeat them so easily," Zabuza turned back to face Kakashi and snorted.

"If you think that Haku is done, you're wrong. As long as there is water, Haku can not lose." Zabuza chuckled.

Sakura was watching with wide eyes; she had known that Sasuke might have been capable of high powered jutsu, but for Naruto to know some as well?

"Sakura-chan!" The Naruto that had appeared earlier, or what Sakura was now sure was a Kage Bunshin, was standing next to her. "Shouldn't you and Tazuna-san be getting out of here?" it asked concernedly.

"The boy's right," Tazuna agreed. "We should leave while those two are occupied. It's not safe here."

Sakura found herself with conflicting emotions. Foremost was fear at both Zabuza and Haku, another was pride in her own teammates and sensei, and another was shame. Shame… that even Naruto was proving to be more useful than her, the dead last of Konoha.

"You two can go," Sakura said finally with determination. "I'm…not leaving my friends behind."

"Sakura-chan…" The clone said, before nodding. "Okay, Tazuna-san, we should go while we still can!" The clone grabbed Tazuna's hand and sprinted away, amusingly pulling the taller man behind.

Zabuza snarled at Kakashi, as they fought. His target was getting away! "Haku!" Haku started running after them leaving both Naruto and Sasuke behind. Sakura stepped in his path in a defensive stance, prepared to fight him.

"I won't let you get through!" She said, trying to sound brave. She was visibly shaking, so it had little effect.

"I do not wish to hurt you," Haku said sincerely. In his eyes, Sakura was a non-combatant as far as their skill levels went. "However, like your black-haired friend, I do not believe you will back down. You leave me no choice," He readied some senbon and threw them at some non-fatal spots that he knew could incapacitate her with the minimum amount of pain. Sakura froze in sheer panic, but the needle never hit.

Sakura gasped as she saw Naruto lying on the ground infront of her, all of the senbon protruding from several spots in his body. He exploded in a puff of smoke and Sakura realized that the clone had turned around to save her. Haku frowned under his mask at where the clone had died and quickly took out more senbon. The real Naruto's foot crashed into the back of his head, however, knocking him into the ground.

Haku promptly exploded into water and Naruto cursed as she landed. "Mizu Bunshin!?" Sasuke stopped next to her and stood in front of Sakura protectively, looking around. Soon, the mirrors of Haku's Makyou Hyo Shou began appearing all around them and Sasuke cursed.

"Naruto, get ready!" He called out.

"Not this time," Haku's voice responded. "I won't allow you to use that attack again." The ice mirrors had already finished forming around them and Sasuke cursed.

Sakura went pale as she saw the images of Haku moving through the mirrors. 'Are we going to be attacked like Sasuke-kun was?' the image of Sasuke huddling over in fear as he was assaulted by an endless storm of senbon flashed through her mind and she shuddered. Sasuke noticed this and mentally cursed Sakura for coming into a situation she wasn't prepared for. They joined hands and began forming hand seals, but they were immediately interrupted by an onslaught of projectiles.

Sasuke cursed as he dodged them, and Naruto tried not to scream outright as they pierced her hand, some of them almost completely. Sakura cried out as several of them hit her and Naruto dove on top of her, using her own body as a human shield.

Sasuke finally calmed down enough to focus on the fight. He had been able to dodge most of the projectiles after he finally adjusted to the speed and was able to see them. Naruto, stood up as soon as she realized that Sakura wasn't a big target and formed a cross seal and formed a group of kage bunshin. The kage bunshin all jumped up and attempted to attack the mirrors.

With the detail Sasuke could now see, the kage bunshin all seemed to be moving in slow motion compared to the seemingly endless stream of senbon that came from the mirrors. Sasuke's eyes widened as he seemed to catch glimpses of Haku leaving the mirror. As the last clone died off, Sasuke had the beginnings of a plan.

"Naruto! Do the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu again!" She nodded and complied.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" She formed the clones again and they all tried to attack the mirrors once more. Everything to be moving even slower still and Sasuke finally caught sight of Haku. "Now!" He made the appropriate handseals and called out the name of his attack, aiming at where he knew Haku would be when his attack was finished. "Katon: Goukakyu no jutsu!"

The stream of fire hit Haku in the side, and he retreated back into one of his mirrors. Sasuke smirked. 'I can see him move!' Sakura sat up as she realized that the attacks had halted. Haku wasn't in any of the mirrors that they could see and she quickly stood up.

"Where did he go?" She asked. "I don't see him in any of the mirrors." Sasuke and Naruto both looked around.

"Let's get out of here while we can!" Naruto suggested, making a run for it. Sakura and Sasuke made to follow her, but Haku appeared at the end, waiting for them. Naruto skidded to a stop, but Haku kicked her in the face, knocking her back into Sakura with surprising force. The two landed on the ground, unmoving, as their injuries began taking a toll on them all at once.

Sasuke looked back at Sakura and Naruto's needle-ridden bodies then scowled at Haku, who simply leapt into another mirror, ready to end it. Haku threw more senbon at Sakura and Naruto, but Sasuke moved to intercept them, ripping one of the ones out of his arm to bat them away. With his face cringing at the pain, Sasuke kept his eyes on Haku, who kept moving through the mirrors.

'I just have to concentrate… and see through it… He's going to move… now!' Using strength and speed born from desperation, he knelt down and picked up Sakura under one arm, and Naruto under the other before leaping away in a burst of chakra. The senbon all landed in the ground where they had been and he landed safely away from them. He looked up at Haku with determination written on his face, and Haku vanished once again.

"Dammit!" Sasuke looked down at Sakura and Naruto. "I can't look after you both forever!" He said. Naruto had sat up already, but it was clear that she was succumbing to the pain. Sakura stood up shakily.

"I know that, bastard," Naruto groaned as she fell backwards in exhaustion. Sakura started moving better, determination set on her face.

"I have to help… I haven't been much use…" She muttered. "I have to figure out a way to help!"

"Sakura… I want you to escape while I distract this guy," Sasuke said. "He's fast, but he can't be in two places at once, and you probably won't make it if you try to take Naruto." Sakura looked at him, horrified.

"No! I want to do something else-"

"Well that's too bad! You're not much more than dead weight in here!" He snapped, and Sakura found the color draining from her face. "Minimizing our losses is our first priority right now and if you see a chance to run you take it!"

"But-"

"Now, Sakura!" Sasuke ordered as Haku appeared and began attacking him. Tears flowed from her eyes as Sakura ran in the opposite direction of the other two.

"You cannot escape," Haku said neutrally as he abruptly switched targets from Sasuke to Sakura as she neared the exit. He threw several senbon at her, but they were all intercepted by Sasuke and knocked aside. Haku then changed his target to Naruto and Sasuke's eyes widened as he ran to intercept the other senbon. Sakura looked over at the two and she knew he wasn't going to make it. An idea flashed through her mind and she set her face into a grim expression.

When Haku's senbon finally hit Naruto, Sasuke cursed his slowness. When the form of Naruto exploded in a puff of smoke, revealing Sakura lying on the ground, he gasped.

"Ka-Kawarimi no jutsu?!" Sakura was biting her teeth to fight a scream from the pain.

"I'm sorry, Sasuke… I had to do something…to be helpful…" She finally passed out and her head fell to the ground.

"Sakura-chan?!" Naruto's voice cried out. Sasuke turned to look at Naruto in surprise. The blonde Kunoichi was sitting up and staring at the scene with wide eyes. "You… you bastard! She's not a fighter!" she yelled as she stood up.

"I am aware of that, and I had no intention of harming her. But she took your place." Haku's voice was low with an undercurrent of respect. He leapt backwards into a mirror.

"You think I care about any of that now?!" Naruto asked, enraged. "I'm gonna kick your ass!" With a burst of Chakra, she ran at the mirror he was in.

"Wait!" Sasuke called out in warning as she leapt at the mirror. The image of Haku disappeared and Naruto's eyes widened. She turned her head to the right and she barely had time to see Haku coming let alone dodge him. Sasuke suddenly appeared in front of her and she was shocked as he intercepted the other ninja, taking some senbon to the chest while catching the other ninja and then tossing him into a mirror. Haku fell to the ground and Sasuke stood protectively in front of Naruto.

"You… always get in the way…" Sasuke muttered.

"You…you did it! You go…" She stared at him in horror as she saw all of the injuries he had sustained in defending the three of them.

"What's with that face you idiot?"

"Why…why did you save me?!"

"How should I know…" The dark haired boy responded. He had a smile on his face for the briefest of moments. "…I hated you…"

"But why! Why me?" Naruto clenched her fists and closed her eyes when he didn't respond. "I never asked for your help!"

"I don't know… my body moved on it's own… idiot." Sasuke fell back and her eyes opened and she moved to catch him. 'That other boy…what he said…'

'_I think… that a person truly becomes strong when they have something precious to protect…' _Recent memories of Team 7 flashed through his head as he thought that over.

'Does that mean… that Naruto and Sakura are… precious? I… felt so strong… like never before…'

"Sasuke!" He noticed that Naruto was looking down at him.

"That man… My brother… I didn't want to die until I had killed him…" Sasuke weakly reached up a hand, but he wasn't able to reach Naruto's face. "You… don't die…" His hand fell down and he went slack in her arms. Naruto stared at him in silence.

"Even though he knew it was a trap, he still jumped in to save his precious person," Haku said. "Like the girl, he was a Shinobi worthy of true respect." Haku slipped into the mirror and continued talking. "Are these the first friends of yours to have died? This is the way of the Shinobi…"

"Shut up!" Naruto looked down at Sasuke's lifeless form. "I hated you too…" Steam started rising from the ground around her as her chakra began increasing erratically. "I won't forgive you!" The steam clouded around them all as red chakra suddenly exploded around Naruto and Sasuke in an upwards spiral. Haku was taken aback by the sudden appearance of the chakra.

"I'll rip you apart!" Naruto sped at Haku, who attacked with a flurry of senbon but Naruto blocked them with a burst of chakra from her mouth. Haku used his mirror clones to attack Naruto with even more needles than before, and when they all connected, Naruto simply used another burst of chakra – this time from her entire body, to sent them all flying out. She smashed the mirror Haku was hiding in and dodged another attack.

Haku tried to run to another mirror, but Naruto caught his arm and held him in place as she punched his mask, sending him flying through one of the ice mirrors. Naruto ran out after him cocked her fist back before giving him a final uppercut. It connected with his bare face with a sickening crack and sent him flying off of the bridge.

There was a loud splash down below as he fell into the water and after a few moments Naruto felt herself calming down as she realized that the other ninja would not likely be coming back from that.

Her eyes returned to their usual blue hue and she looked at her hands in wonder as some of the red chakra danced across them. 'What… just happened?' She put the question aside for later as the situation came crashing back into her mind with certain clarity. 'Sasuke… Sakura-chan…' Tears clouded her eyes as she realized that even though the other ninja was dead her friends would not be coming back.

'_This is the way of the Shinobi…'_

Naruto started walking aimlessly and before she knew it she was standing between the corpses of her two teammates. The mist started clearing but she didn't register this in her mind at all. There was an even denser fog in her mind than the one that had been around them all moments ago. She stared at the two and she felt wetness coursing down her face, but denied it was there. She had promised herself she would not cry again many years ago. She became aware of Kakashi's presence as he approached her.

A look in the direction he came showed her that Zabuza was dead, lying in a puddle of blood that pooled underneath him that could only be his own and it was then that she noticed the mist was gone. Kakashi was sporting a few good cuts as well, but the worst thing about him was the dead look in his eye as he stood over her. She turned back down at her two fallen comrades.

"Naruto… It's all right to cry." Kakashi said gently.

"He was killed… how disappointing." Kakashi and Naruto both looked up at the noise and they saw a short man with a cane and a cast on his arm and he was surrounded by a group of thugs with assorted weapons.

"Gatou…" Came a voice from the side. Kakashi and Naruto's eyes widened and they looked over to where Zabuza was lying on the ground. "Why are you here? And what's with all of these men?" He slowly sat up and looked in Gatou's direction.

"Oh? You're not dead?" Gatou had a wicked smirk plastered on his face as he noticed Zabuza. "The plan has changed a bit. Sorry, Zabuza, but I'm going to have you killed here. Hiring normal Ninja is expensive, so I get missing-nin like you. The Ninja fight it out, and with any luck, they kill each other, saving me money and effort. But the devil of the hidden mist? Pah. You're just a cute little baby devil." Gatou and his men all laughed at the weak joke and Zabuza stood up.

"Kakashi. I'm sorry. This fight is over. Since I'm not after Tazuna, we have no reason to fight." Kakashi agreed with him as he glared at Gatou.

"Yeah. You're right."

"Heheheh…Where's the other one? Is he dead already?" Gatou laughed.

"You…" Naruto growled as she suddenly remembered the name that Zabuza had given to the short man before them. "You're the one who caused all of this!" She stood up and her eyes flashed a dangerous red. "It's because of you that Sasuke and Sakura-chan are dead…It's because of you that everyone in this country is suffering!" She clenched her fists as she faced the business man. The red Chakra from before sprang up around her again and Kakashi and Zabuza glanced at her before steeling themselves.

"You will die here today," Kakashi said as stood beside Naruto.

"Kakashi. Leave him to me. You two take out the trash." He said in a commanding voice. He clutched his Zanbatou in his single usable arm and narrowed his eyes at the businessman. They both nodded in understanding – The man had slandered his apprentice just moments before and had also been planning to go back on his contract, which was about as grave an offense to most ninja as possible. Zabuza coughed up blood and he ripped his soaked bandages away.

They all immediately launched at the group of men and Gatou screamed as he ran back into the protection of the group. Naruto was a bundle of instincts as she rained blows on fatal spots on the men, crushing bones and organs alike. One man had gone into the fight empty handed and tried to attack with a weak variant of taijutsu, but she caught his fist and grabbed his arm and she growled as she bent it backwards, breaking it. She ignored his scream as she moved on to the next attacker, punching him square in the nose. He fell over dead, as the bone fragments from his nose had been shoved into his brain.

Kakashi was just as deadly, if a little less messy and much more precise with his attacks. The men were taken down swiftly and with finality as he used kunai and shuriken alike to attack them. Zabuza effortlessly cleaved limbs clear off in clean strikes with his zanbatou, leaving men to die in his wake as he bled to death. He coughed up a great deal of blood a several times but his wound didn't slow him down at all and Kakashi paused in his own attacks as he finally noticed.

'He's on the verge of falling dead, but he continues to fight…' He sighed, angered that Gatou had decided to show his slimy face _after _his attack with the Raikiri. Oh well; since he had stupidly decided to reveal himself, they would be able to kill him and end his little reign of terror.

Soon the men were all either fleeing in terror or lying on the ground with blood pooling around them. Kakashi looked at Naruto in shock as she stood there with the same rage that had been present on her face as before. It was then that he noticed her facial features; how her canines had dramatically increased in size, her eyes were slitted and red, and the whiskers that marked her as the Kyuubi's vessel were widened. All in all, she looked like a monster, and Kakashi wasn't sure at that moment that she wasn't.

"Well, Gatou…" Zabuza said and Kakashi looked up to see that the business man had run to the edge of the bridge with Zabuza standing over him holding his zanbatou over his shoulder. "This worthless devil is going to send you to hell, where you'll have plenty of time to be acquainted with _real_ devils!" He held up his Zanbatou with his one hand and glared down at the man. Gatou squealed and turned to run, but Zabuza swung down with his zanbatou, cleaving him in half at the waist, and spilling his entrails as well as a large amount of blood onto the bridge.

Kakashi glanced at Naruto worriedly, but the girl didn't seem to be affected by the grotesque display at all. Gatou screamed pathetically in his last moments and Zabuza kicked his lower half into the water over the edge. The last thing Gatou ever saw was his legs falling into the ocean as his torso followed.

Zabuza laughed once and fell to his knees clutching his chest. Naruto instantly reacted and she ran over to him, and when Kakashi saw her face, he was relieved to see that it was back to normal. There was no need to kill her.

"Zabuza..!" Naruto yelled out.

"Hey… kid…" Zabuza said weakly, "When you find Haku tell him I'm proud of him…"

"You can tell him that," Naruto said as more tears gathered in her eyes. Zabuza made a disapproving sound.

"Stop that, girl. I don't deserve your tears…"

"But…but…" Naruto frowned. "How did you know?"

"Heh. After teaching Haku I can tell the difference really easy. Listen… I don't think Haku killed your friends… If you pull the needles… out they should come back…"

"The technique he used on you?" Kakashi asked with wide eyes.

"Yeah… He told me… he didn't really want to kill them… Being a shinobi is hard for him… He's not… like me…"

"Stop talking like you're gonna die," Naruto said, incredibly relieved that Sasuke and Sakura may be alive and surprised at Haku's kindness. "Kakashi-sensei! DO SOMETHING!" Kakashi shook his head and the regret was almost tangible.

"He's too far-gone. I'm surprised he didn't die when I used the Raikiri, and lasted long enough to kill Gatou…"

"Heh. Maybe… Haku'll be… Mizukage some… day…" Naruto looked down at him and gave a sad smile.

"I'll help him become the Mizukage," She promised. "And he'll owe me a few favors as the Hokage,"

"Heh. Thanks, kid… Kakashi did… a good job… didn't he?" He coughed up blood once more and looked up at the girl. "It's as I said… Ninja are tools…"

"Too good of a job it seems…" Kakashi muttered.

"I don't believe that. Before they are tools, they are human, aren't they?!"

"Maybe you're right…" Zabuza said as his gaze turned up to the sky. "Haku… I'm sorry…" Naruto blanched as she felt his chakra rapidly fading.

"No! Don't go!" Naruto pleaded, but it was for naught as his body suddenly went slack in her arms. She stared down at him with a blank look on her face. "Not again…" Kakashi looked down at Naruto. "That's… the second time somebody died in my arms today…"

"Naruto…"

"Kakashi-sensei! It's not fair! Why did he have to die? Gatou was lying to him the whole time! He was going to stab him in the back! Why… Why did he…"

"Naruto." She looked up at him slowly. "That's just how the world is sometimes. You can try to move the world to save your friends… but in the event that you fail… You must move on… if you don't, you'll be devoured by your sorrow. A ninja must be in control of their emotions. Now, remember what he said about your teammates?" He turned away to look at Sasuke and Sakura and blinked in surprise as he noticed the entire town standing at the other side of the bridge, with Tazuna and Inari in front.

Naruto however didn't seem to notice them at all as she ran over to Sasuke and Sakura.

"If you do it fast you might hurt them worse," Kakashi said as he started walking over to the solemn crowd and his exhaustion began to register in his mind. 'Damn…used it too much again…' Once he was close enough, he called out to Tazuna.

"When did you get here?" He asked, glancing at Inari, who had a blank look on his face.

"We got here when you were fighting all of those guys," Tazuna said in a low voice. "Is he okay?"

'They didn't' hear Zabuza then,' Kakashi thought. It was reasonable, the man had been speaking in a low voice and they were on the other side of the bridge.

"Listen, I'm going to be out for a while again, so tell Naruto not to worry," Kakashi said as his world blurred.

"You got it," was the last thing he heard before he went into his chakra-depletion induced sleep.

Naruto didn't even any thing until Inari and Tazuna walked over to her, silently.

"Are… are they dead?" Inari asked with a quiver in his voice. Naruto was kneeling next to Sasuke, after having removed all of the senbon from him and they lay in a pile next to him, covered in his blood.

"I don't think so," Naruto said, trying to sound as normal as possible for the eight year old. "But we killed Gatou, so he can't-"

"I know," Inari said in a low voice. "I saw." Naruto's eyes went wide as she remembered just _how_ Gatou had been killed.

"Inari…" She said, and all of the false cheer bled out of her voice. She looked up at Tazuna. "Are you sure that was okay?"

"I didn't know that he was going to do _that_," Tazuna said motioning Zabuza's corpse, "But I thought Inari of all people deserved to see how Gatou died. It was far worse than what he did to Kaiza, but deserved none the less." Naruto nodded her head in agreement as she replayed how Gatou had died. Before, when she saw him die, she had felt incredibly detached.

Even when his innards were displayed for all to see, she only felt a cold sort of satisfaction as the man died his death. Now she felt more than slightly revulsed, and it showed on her face.

"Ugh…" A voice below her snapped her out of her reverie, however, and she looked down at Sasuke with glee.

"Sasuke-Teme!" She cried out. "You're alive!"

"Of course I'm alive… There's no way I'd die before you…" The other boy said, as he slowly sat up. "Where's… Sakura? And the other guy…"

"I… I think I killed Haku…" She said, nervously. "And Sakura-chan…She's the same as you, she'll be fine once we get the needles out!"

"Fine?" Sasuke snorted half-heartedly. "I feel like shit…"

"But you're alive!" She said and she squeezed him in a hug. "When I thought you had died in my arms, I… I…" Sasuke didn't say anything, as he felt the wetness from her face on his neck. "I don't know what I'd have done…"

"Calm down, dobe," He said awkwardly. "I'm not going anywhere anytime soon. Now go wake Sakura up or something." He began to feel even more awkward when she laughed and pulled away from him.

"Okay!" She stood up and ran over to Sakura, before kneeling to slowly and methodically pulling out the needles. Sasuke stood up and looked around at the battlefield before spotting Zabuza's corpse.

"What happened while I was out?" Sasuke asked, looking at Tazuna. "Did you see anything?"

"Yeah…" Tazuna said as he began to relate what had happened moments before.

---

Naruto stood before Zabuza's grave marker with a solemn look on her face as the evening sun drenched the clearing in orange light. Even though she had dived down under the water while her friends were recovering and the bridge was being completed (as there were virtually no threats left now that Gatou was dead), they had been unable to find Haku's corpse. In the end, Kakashi had asked Naruto to explain how she 'killed' Haku and when she explained, he nodded.

"It's possible all you did was break his jaw or something along those lines and knock him out." Kakashi said re-assuringly.

"But Kakashi-sensei, if he was unconscious and underwater, wouldn't he have drowned?" the orange clad ninja asked her recuperating sensei in a confused tone.

"It's possible, but it seems just as likely that he survived. I don't think it's possible for him to drown with the blood limit he has."

"Really?" She asked. He nodded again.

"I'm not giving any guarantees, though. He could, as you think, be dead and rotting on the sea floor." he said apologetically. "If he's alive, we'll definitely meet him one day. And we can tell him what Zabuza said."

"Okay."

"Kakashi-sensei," Sakura started. "Was he right about Ninja though?" Naruto looked over at Kakashi.

"Well…A shinobi isn't supposed to pursue his own goals. Existing as a tool is most important. Even in Konoha, this is true."

"Is that what it means to become a true ninja?" Naruto asked, looking over at her sensei. "You know what… I don't like it at all!" She frowned as she said the last part.

"Do you really believe that?" Sasuke asked, joining the other two. "That ninja exist for no purpose but to serve?"

"Well… It's why every single ninja has to live with that. Just like Zabuza…" He looked away into the distance. "…And that boy."

"Okay then! I've decided!" Naruto started, looking up into the sky. "I'm going to be a ninja in my own way! I'm gonna run down a straight path with no regrets!" Sasuke raised an eyebrow and Kakashi smiled.

"Well then, let's go," the silver-haired jounin said. "It's our last night here. We should get some rest – we have a long journey tomorrow and the days after that," He turned to leave and all of them but Sasuke began to follow.

"Naruto…" she looked over at Sasuke in surprise as the other two left. "Can I speak with you for a moment?"

"Sure, what is it?"

"Hold on," Sasuke said, He watched Sakura and Kakashi as they got further away and then turned to look at Naruto. "How did you defeat him?"

"Defeat who?"

"That masked boy…Haku."

"I…" Naruto's eyes widened as she recalled what happened. She suddenly started sweating as she realized that she couldn't tell Sasuke without telling him that the Kyuubi was sealed into her belly. "I remember…" She narrowed her eyes. "A burst of chakra…and it gets hazy…"

"Naruto," Sasuke decided to believe that, but realized he could offer some information to her since she didn't seem to remember. "I woke up a for a few seconds during your fight." Naruto paled at that and didn't bother to hide it. He started to reconsider whether or not she was telling the truth as he filed that away. "There was an explosion of red chakra, and you turned into a monster. That's all I can remember." He narrowed his eyes as he saw the panic written on her face. "What else… are you hiding from us?" He asked.

"I… I…" She stumbled over her words for a few seconds.

"Naruto. What am I to you?" When she didn't answer he continued. "I'll tell you… that if you continue to keep these secrets, I'll never be able to consider you a friend. How long do you plan on acting like a man?" He turned away and started walking, before turning his head to the side. "I can understand some things, but… if you continue to hide things that concern us, how can we trust you?" There was some degree of hurt in his voice, and Naruto knew she was the cause.

"Sasuke… I promise, I'll tell you one day. Please, just accept that. Please…" She said, and he could tell she was fighting to keep from falling to pieces again.

"Fine. For now, I'll let it fly. But… one day, everyone will know. It is better to stop something like that as soon as possible. You're not weak anymore, Naruto. You're a ninja." She looked up at him in surprise and he closed his eyes. "I was able to figure out why… you had been posing as a boy. But you're not weak anymore. So you can stop." He turned and walked away.

"Sasuke!" She called out. He stopped, but didn't respond otherwise. "Thanks." He grunted and continued walking, then leapt into the trees.

---

"It's thanks to you guys that we got the bridge finished… but this is super sad," Tazuna said as he and the other villagers stood on the side of the bridge. Now that it was complete, Team 7 were going to be the first ones to cross it.

"Take care," Tsunami said with a small smile.

"You too," Sakura smiled back.

"We'll come back and visit some time!" Naruto said with certainty.

"We'll hold you to that," Tazuna nodded. Team Seven turned and left, all of them waving. Inari's eyes teared up as they got further and further away.

"You better come back, Naruto-nee-chan…" He said quietly.

"What was that?" Tazuna asked, looking down at Inari.

"Nothing." Inari said, wiping his eyes.


	3. Chapter 3

**Standard Procedure:**

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of the characters used in this chapter.

----

A boy with dark shoulder length hair and civilian clothes is standing before Zabuza's grave marker. He has a multitude of bandages wrapped around his jaw, and his fists are clenched. Tears slowly made their way in twin trails down his face as he looked down at the Kubikiri Houchou. He unclenches and clenches his fists a few times, and then clenches them again one final time, this time tightening them so much that his nails drew blood.

"Zabuza-san…it is true…" The boy knelt down on one leg as he looked at the small, modest cross that marked the demon of the mist's eternal resting place. He closed his eyes as the truth he'd been hoping against hope was not true became reality. "I failed you…" He broke down and sobbed for his mentor. He knew the man wouldn't have approved at all at the behavior, but he could not help it.

Haku could not help the despair he felt as he realized that everything he cared for, and had cared for him in the world was gone. Gone, and never coming back. His dreams had been crushed, his promises broken, and worst of all, his purpose erased. With Zabuza gone, there was no one to serve. There was no one precious to protect. There was nothingness – a void that Zabuza had taken up in his heart had been re-opened. Haku was not needed in this world.

As he cried his tears away, he was suddenly aware of a familiar presence in the air around him. It was filled with sorrow and regret, and he had to wonder if Zabuza's soul had come from the other world to watch him and his pathetic display. He immediately stopped crying as he realized that it was indeed the warmth he felt whenever Zabuza was with him.

"Zabuza-san?" He asked, his voice hoarse as he choked back more sobs. There was, of course, no answer, but the sorrow and regret melted away and was replaced with a feeling that bordered on caring. It was the kind of feeling that Haku felt whenever he had done something right for his master, and his master approved. It became a feeling of urgency, and his mind was suddenly clear as he realized what he had to do. "Those people…they killed you…" He stood up and looked at the impressive Zanbato that had been his master's in life. He took hold of the hilt and pulled it out of the ground. The feeling he felt now seemed to be approving, and Haku nodded that he understood the message his old master was trying to get across to him.

Haku still had a purpose. He was still needed. And he now knew what that purpose was.

Revenge.

---

Sakura was standing on a bridge waiting for their Jounin-sensei along with Sasuke. They had both been there for half an hour, and if past experience was to be believed, they would be waiting atleast twice that before Kakashi showed up. Sakura looked up and to the side as she heard footsteps rapidly approaching. Naruto came into view through the trees to her right and she gave a light smile at her blonde teammate.

"Good morning, Sakura-chan!" The pink haired girl blinked; Naruto's tone of voice lacked the usual luster it had when talking to her.

"Hey, you blonde idiot" Sasuke said with a light wave. Naruto frowned at that and crossed her arms as she looked at Sasuke. He was leaning against the railing.

"Hey! Who's an idiot? You better not be talking to me!"

"Would you rather I be calling Sakura an idiot, then?" Sasuke asked with a raised brow.

"No! But…you…Dammit, You're so confusing!" She turned away from him with a snort and he shook his head.

"Whatever." Sasuke turned around and looked down into the water. Naruto walked away from him and stood next to Sakura before getting real close and covering up her mouth.

"Hey," Naruto whispered loudly. "Is he PMSing or something today?" Sasuke _felt_ a vein pop in his forehead and he turned around to look at Naruto.

"You would know more about PMSing than me, dobe. Or then again, maybe you're too young to have started that yet." He said in a challenging tone. She narrowed her eyes as she turned to glare at him and Sakura sighed as she backed away from the two.

'What's going on? They were getting on well earlier…' She thought as she watched the two argue.

"Oh yeah, pretty boy? Well… I… you…" Her face turned red in embarrassment and contorted with anger as she failed to come up with an adequate comeback. "Well you're… a retard!" She said, pointing. Sakura giggled at that and Sasuke snorted, turning back to the water. 'Dammit! He's no better than before! Was I stupid for thinking he wanted to be my friend?' She thought sullenly. She realized that neither of them were paying her attention any more and settled for sulking against the opposite side of the bridge.

An indefinable amount of time later, Kakashi finally appeared before them.

"Hey guys," He said lazily. "I got lost, so…" He waited for the customary _loud_ response, but when it never came he noticed the state everyone was in. Sasuke was brooding and looking over the edge of the bridge, as per usual. Sakura was looking a bit more thoughtful than usual and didn't even seem to notice his presence. Naruto was on the side of the bridge opposite Sasuke, mirroring his mood.

That set off alarms. Naruto wasn't supposed to brood - she was supposed to be outrageously loud and stupid, not silent and thoughtful.

"Naruto?" Kakashi tested cautiously.

"Yeah, Kakashi-sensei?" She asked distractedly.

"Is there something the three of you want to tell me?" He asked seriously. They all looked at him.

"Kakashi-sensei," They all said at the same time. They all turned to look at each other.

"You two go first," Sasuke said. "I'd rather talk with him in private anyway."

"Sakura-chan," Naruto said half-heartedly, setting off another alarm. Kakashi almost pulled his hitaite up to check if it was the real Naruto down there.

"Okay. Ano ne, Kakashi-sensei… I was just wondering, if instead of doing D-ranked missions again, could you start training us more seriously?" Naruto blinked at that and looked at their mentor.

"I was wondering the same, actually." She said.

"This is a surprise," Kakashi said with a frown. He didn't like surprises. They didn't usually end well. "What prompted this?"

"Saa…" Sakura started, "Ne, Kakashi-sensei… I… in the last few missions, I noticed that I wasn't as big as a help as I should have been." Sakura had a brief flash of memory from their fight.

"_You're not much more than dead weight in here!" _

"I want to get stronger so that I'm not a burden anymore." Sasuke turned to look at her as well with something bordering approval on his face.

"Yeah, yeah! And Kakashi-sensei, you haven't even showed us any new jutsu since we left the academy! And you know at least a thousand, right? Can't you teach us some?" She asked. She had only learned one jutsu in the time that she'd joined Team 7, and it had been taught to her by Sasuke, in the heat of battle no less. "You said that the tree climbing was to help us learn jutsu, and we all mastered that, so teach us some jutsu!" Sasuke nodded in agreement and turned to Kakashi.

"S…He's right," He said. Sakura raised a brow, having caught it, but didn't have the time to consider it as he kept going. "There are people out there stronger than us… How are we supposed to fight them if you don't teach us how?"

"Hmmm…" Kakashi said, and the three could tell he was honestly considering it. "Well… Are you sure? I would think you could use the money from D-ranked missions, Naruto, being that you don't have family savings of any sort to live off of. And you, Sasuke, don't you have your family jutsu to practice from scrolls?"

"Hokage-jii-chan said he would pay us for worth an A-ranked mission, right? That should be enough to keep me going for a month, and it's not like I didn't save up money from before."

"And it wouldn't hurt for me to spar or something every once in a while," Sasuke pointed out. "And these two don't have family styles. Neither of them comes from a ninja family." Kakashi chuckled at that, which caused Sasuke to raise another brow.

"I suppose they don't," He agreed, "But anyway, I guess you guys are right. If really want to, we can meet in Training Area 7 right now and get to work. But I promise you this: it will not be pleasant. You can take your worst day at the academy and multiply it by ten. This will be a good day in training with me." When they didn't back down, he nodded. "Very well. We will go to Training Area 7. But the three of you will race there. The last person to arrive will be staying two extra hours. You may all choose routes different from mine if you wish." Sakura blanched at that, but Naruto and Sasuke smirked. He leapt into the trees and they followed suit.

-

Kakashi smirked as he landed in front of the logs at training area 7. Sakura had chosen to follow him, and he had purposely started going the long way around. When she realized what he was doing, and he was sure that no one else was following him, he immediately increased his speed to the max. It wasn't too far from the bridge and if he got there last it would be awkward, and he was sure none of them would tell who was the last to be there; such was the strength of their friendship, a bond that had been non-existent when he first met the three of them, and he was hoping that he would be able to strengthen it even further with their training.

They were already having positive influences on each other – Naruto was challenging Sasuke to really try and see underneath the underneath, both of them were challenging Sakura to get stronger, and Sasuke was challenging Naruto to get him to acknowledge her skill. He hoped their influence on each other continued to improve their relationship. Initially when he'd arrived at the bridge, he thought that something bad might have happened, but now he was sure that it was nothing.

Sasuke arrived first, as he'd expected, and Naruto came from the opposite direction not fifteen seconds later. They had to wait a full two minutes for Sakura to arrive, however, and when she did she was panting and exhausted, whereas both of her teammates had not even broken a sweat.

"Are you okay, Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked with honest concern in her voice as she approached her pink-haired team mate.

"I'm fine," She said, waving her off. "I just… need to…" She looked up and realized that both Sasuke and Naruto were standing there. Naruto had an apologetic look on her face, but Sasuke was frowning at her.

She could practically hear the thoughts flowing through his head. _'I didn't know she was that out of shape. What a disappointment. She's totally useless.'_ Her mental image of Sasuke sneered at her and turned around, walking away. Sakura looked down at the ground in shame as Kakashi cleared his throat.

"Ahem… Well, Sakura, I'm sorry to say that your training period has been extended for two hours." She nodded weakly and tried to smile for Naruto's sake, but barely managed a grimace. "Okay, good job to Sasuke and Naruto, although I'm disappointed since neither of you got here before me and I took the long way,"

"What?!" Naruto asked.

"He's not lying," Sakura said. "I followed him until I realized what he was doing, and he was going in the totally opposite direction."

"Wait a minute, that sounds wrong." Sasuke said, narrowing his eyes. "If he was going the long way and he got here before us, how were you able to follow him?"

"I sped up when she left," Kakashi said, shrugging his shoulders. They seemed to accept that and Sasuke crossed his arms, looking disappointing in himself.

"Wow! Kakashi-sensei is incredible!" Naruto was bursting with energy again and Kakashi was glad for the distraction. "So what should we do first, Kakashi-sensei?" She asked.

"Well, I thought about it on the way here and while I was waiting." He started, and they all looked up at him. "Sasuke and Naruto are going to spar first, Taijutsu only." He said. Both of them had smirks on their faces as that was said. "I will be watching for mistakes. After that, whoever has the most stamina left will spar with Sakura. Again, I will be watching for mistakes. Once you are all done, I will choose a more advanced Taijutsu style for all of you to learn, using what you know of the academy's Taijutsu as a base. The style will be better chosen to tailor your own fighting style. Do you all understand?" When they all nodded, he began speaking again.

"Well then, Sasuke, Naruto," They both nodded again and walked away, neither bothering to look at the other as they got into position. When they were far enough, they turned to face each other.

"It's about time." Sasuke said.

"I'll show you who's the real ninja." Naruto said with confidence oozing from her voice.

"But you're a kunoichi," Sasuke's smirk widened. "You aren't equipped for such a job." She snarled at him in rage as he backed away to give them some space.

"You're going down. That's a promise."

"Right, dobe." Kakashi, who hadn't heard any of the exchange, but noticed the looks on their faces, frowned.

"You may begin," He said. Naruto rushed at Sasuke with a fist cocked back, and the moment before she threw her punch, Sasuke's eyes went red. Kakashi took note of that and saw that Sasuke's hand went up and he caught the strike easily. Kakashi noted the ferocity behind her strike; apparently Sasuke had angered her with their unheard banter. A wise move on Sasuke's part – had they been really fighting, that was. As it were, with her anger clouded mind, she would not be able to display her full abilities in Taijutsu. "Stop." They both looked at him in confusion and irritation.

"Sasuke. It's all well and good to see that you know how to use psychological tactics," he said, to which Sasuke smirked. Naruto blinked at the word, having heard the phrase before but not quite able to remember what it meant. "But right now you are sparring with a teammate. I need to see both of you in top form. Some street brawl isn't going to tell me how much work you need Taijutsu." He said. Sasuke frowned, refusing to look properly scolded and Naruto blushed as she laughed nervously and rubbed her head with her free hand. "As for you, Naruto, you need to work on your temper. I don't know what he said to you just now, but a ninja must remain in control of their emotions at all times. I know it may sound hard, but unless you reign in your temper, any enemy ninja will be able to control you just as well as Sasuke did." She made a disgruntled noise and nodded.

"Now, start over." They both nodded and separated, both of them feeling much less tension than before. When Naruto looked at Sasuke again, his eyes were black again. "You may begin." This time, when Naruto charged in, it was more controlled and when she made to punch Sasuke it looked more like a Taijutsu move than some random street fighter's wild swings. But Kakashi could see that in her simple attack she had left plenty of openings, openings that Sasuke was ready and willing to take advantage of. Sasuke sank down to the ground and used her own momentum to flip her over him. He stood up immediately, and Naruto recovered nearly as fast. She turned around and charged him again, throwing another punch, which Sasuke knocked aside with his forearm and countered, hitting her in the nose with his own fist. It didn't hurt as much as it could have, but it was enough to make Naruto take a few steps back. Sasuke stood there waiting for her with a neutral look on his face.

All in all, it was shaping up to be a very one-sided fight. Sasuke's form was near perfect, and the strength behind his attacks was controlled to the point where it wouldn't cause lasting damage to Naruto. His reflexes showed that he practiced often, and the few times that she managed to block him, he would instantly go into another attack, appearing to have planned the second attack in the first place. He was flexible and agile.

Naruto's Taijutsu was incredibly sloppy. He could only see a small influence from the Academy's instruction on her Taijutsu. Her attacks had varying amounts of control; too much power behind some moves, and too little in others. Her reflexes were horrible and it was obvious that she hadn't really used Taijutsu since her graduation from the academy and she had to consciously maintain her form.

After watching them for half an hour, he'd had enough. They were on completely different levels. The only thing Naruto seemed to have on Sasuke was that while Sasuke was starting to show the barest hints of fatigue at thirty minutes, she was still bursting at the seams with energy, and she'd been the one taking almost all of the hits.

"Naruto, Sasuke, that's enough." They both stopped mid-attack and looked at him, then each other. They relaxed and waited for his next command. "Sasuke, you come here for now. Naruto, you will be sparring with Sakura." Sasuke nodded and walked away from the blonde kunoichi to stand by Kakashi's side as Sakura took his place.

"You may begin," He instructed as they assumed their ready places. As they began their own sparring Kakashi looked at Sasuke out of the corner of his eye. "When did you start using the Sharingan?" Kakashi asked. When Sasuke gave him an incredulous look, Kakashi paused. "You do know that you were using the Sharingan, right?" Sasuke's mouth opened and closed twice before he frowned and turned back to the fight.

"I did not." He answered simply.

"Hmm… You must have used it in your fight against that masked boy," He said with certainty. "He seemed to be too fast for anything else."

"Not so," Sasuke said in a low voice with narrowed eyes. "Naruto was able to beat him. She doesn't have the Sharingan."

'Ah. So that's what's bothering him.'

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about, actually," Sasuke said, without looking up at his sensei. "I don't understand. Where did that energy come from? Why did she have red chakra? Why…" His eyes narrowed even further as he glared at the blonde Kunoichi. "Why was she able to defeat such a person, when I, with the Sharingan…" At that point, Kakashi noted that if looks could kill, Naruto would have been on the sixth level of hell at the moment.

"Kakashi." He said suddenly. "You know what that was." Kakashi raised an eyebrow. "But I'm sure you're not going to tell me. So I'm not going to bother asking. Instead… I want you to tell me how to get stronger. Ita… _that man_ would laugh me if he knew I had been defeated by a girl… especially the dobe. If I-"

"Itachi," Kakashi started, "Would know that there are some women out there that are stronger than men. He might laugh at you, or be disgusted with you, but not because of Naruto's gender." Sasuke glared at him but Kakashi didn't give him the time to respond. "Sasuke. I can understand why you think girls are weak. The girls in the Ninja Academy probably weren't very prominent examples of strong kunoichi. But Naruto is different. She's… unique. She doesn't think like most girls, she doesn't fight like most girls, and she most certainly doesn't act like most girls. It's actually hard to think of her as a girl sometimes. I've caught myself using male pronouns," he chuckled. Sasuke turned back to watch Naruto spar with Sakura.

"Sakura is improving too. It seems that the last mission showed her her own weaknesses in comparison to the two of you. She's rather independent, so it must be killing her to have had to rely on you and Naruto for protection." He paused to let the boy digest his words, and once he thought it enough he started again. "Both of them are your teammates. And because of you, they both want to get stronger. But you don't seem to want them to."

"I see…" He muttered. "It feels that way…"

"Hm?"

"I feel… that if there is someone stronger than me here, then there is no way that I'm strong enough to defeat Itachi… I've trained ever since then to defeat him…" Kakashi noted the absence of the words _'kill'_ and '_that man'_. "It's the reason I strive to be as strong as I can be. But what that boy said… He said something to me about true strength coming from the need to protect someone. When I was fighting him and protecting the girls, I was able to activate the Sharingan."

"You'll have to tell me about that," Kakashi noted. "How did you figure out Naruto's chakra alignment?"

"Her what?" Sasuke asked with a confused look. It was Kakashi's turn to give him a look of incredulity.

"You didn't know?" He asked in a disbelieving tone. 'You guys are incredibly lucky, then…' "I'll explain it later."

"Aa…" Kakashi turned back to watch the other two spar so he could get some insight on Sakura.

"Sasuke." He said. Sasuke looked up at him again. "There are some secrets about Naruto that even she isn't aware of. She might be more willing to share what she does know with you if you stop trying to push her away." Sasuke was silent after that and Kakashi was able to devote his full attention to the two Kunoichi in front of him.

Sakura had a textbook perfect style, but it lacked the speed, strength, and confidence that Sasuke had displayed, and her reflexes were caught somewhere in between her teammates'. At just over half the time Sasuke had been able to fight, of straight sparring, Sakura began to show definite signs of fatigue.

"That's enough," He said in a bored voice, hiding his disappointment. The only one who had performed remarkably was Sasuke, and while he was good, he was still only genin level. 'It's just as I thought… Naruto got lucky because of the Kyuubi. There would have been no other way for her to defeat Haku. 'She can't rely on that all the time. I'll have to ask the Hokage for more information about her seal…' When Sakura and Naruto were standing there, he looked over the three again. "Except for Sasuke, we have a lot of work to do to work on your Taijutsu. I don't even know if Naruto has enough of the Academy basics down to learn a real style. Sakura, you need to work on your endurance." He sighed as the two girls sheepishly looked at the ground. "But it's definitely doable. We'll begin working with a real regimen tomorrow. Naruto, Sasuke, the two of you are dismissed. Sakura, we're going to start working on your endurance right now."

"Wait," Sasuke started. "You said you were going to explain that 'Chakra Alignment' thing."

"That's right," Kakashi said, remembering. "Anyway, before I begin, Sasuke, what made you team up with Naruto for that katon against the masked kid?"

"Oh…" Naruto looked thoughtful. "He said his hand was hurting and he said he needed my hand to do a fire jutsu so he could melt the ice." She looked over at Sasuke. "I hadn't known that you knew such a cool jutsu."

"It wasn't supposed to be that strong. And like Naruto said, my arm was too hurt to perform handseals." Kakashi stared at them for a few seconds and sighed.

"You guys got really lucky, then, didn't you… I had thought you'd figured it out… It'd be easier to explain later when we have the stuff we need to test you. I'll tell you about it tomorrow."

"Ano sa, Kakashi-sensei, it's kind of early isn't it?" Naruto asked, scratching her head.

"Yes, but I need to process this information and come up with a way to help each of you in the best way possible. If you want, you can practice the jutsu you already know, or spar again. Though neither of you really needs to increase your endurance, perhaps Sasuke can offer a few pointers on your Taijutsu, Naruto." The two nodded and walked to a separate area, opting to do that rather than leave.

"Now, Sakura," Kakashi began, "I want you to…"

-

Sasuke frowned as he dodged another wild punch from Naruto. "Stop." He said suddenly. She did. "What the heck was that supposed to be?" He asked in confusion. She frowned at him.

"That was a roundhouse punch!" She snapped. He was always so condescending when he talked! Sure, Sensei had said that he was better with Taijutsu, but it didn't make him a better person than her, dammit! She was stronger than him in the long run anyway…

"I don't know what that was," Sasuke started with an annoyed look. "But it was _not_ a roundhouse. It should be more like this." He demonstrated for her and she sighed. "Are you watching? If you're not going to even try, maybe I should stop."

"No! No. I'll watch…" She grumbled as she imitated him and he walked over to correct her form.

-

Although initially, Kakashi hadn't planned on keeping her the full two hours, the presence of her teammates seemed to bolster her stamina. After Sakura's two hours were up, they all decided to go home for the day. Sakura had been run ragged and neither Naruto nor Sasuke were opposed to stopping for the day. Naruto and Sasuke were both annoyed that her Taijutsu had been as far off as it was, and Sakura was too exhausted to care about anything. Her teammates asked if she wanted help walking home, which she accepted.

They each put one her arms over their shoulders as they walked away from the training area. Kakashi explained that he had some important things to do, now that they were serious about training, and left to get to them immediately.

Sometime after crossing into Konoha, Naruto became aware of a presence following behind them. She and Sasuke stopped at the same time, and Sakura looked at them in confusion.

"What? What's going on?" She asked. They both ignored her and turned their heads around as far as possible in time to see a cardboard box with odd markings and legs fall to the ground as it's legs vanished.

'What is that supposed to be?' Naruto thought, disgustedly. 'A square rock?'

"What is going on?" Sakura asked as they all turned around. As soon as she saw the 'rock', she flinched. "What the hell is that?"

"It's a rock!" Came a voice from inside, followed by some hushing noises.

"I thought so…" Naruto said with an exasperated look on her face. "Konohamaru… A square rock with two holes like that does not exist in this world!" The box exploded and three puffs of smoke and three children sat on the ground in its place, coughing through the smoke.

"You used too much gun powder," one of them said. Sasuke looked at the three with disgust.

"_That's_ the Hokage's descendant?"

"Hey! I'm Konohamaru! Not 'The Hokage's descendant'!" He yelled back angrily.

"I thought so," Naruto sighed. "What do you want right now? I'm too busy to play with you guys."

"You said you'd play ninja with us! And you're only taking a walk!"

"Is that right?" Naruto asked with a bored look.

"_Is that right?_" Konohamaru repeated. "Why have you been treating us so cold lately?"

"Have I been?"

"Seriously, though, what's the point of ninja playing ninja?" Sakura asked. "You guys should be training if you want to be real ninja, not playing around like this idiot usually does."

"Sakura-chan…" Naruto said dejectedly, "I was training just as long as you today!"

"Anyway," Sasuke said, ignoring Naruto. "She's right. If you really want to be Ninja, you should train more. Being a ninja…is not all fun and games." Naruto nodded in agreement. Konohamaru looked at the three of them, upset.

"We know that! But being a Ninja shouldn't mean you have to sacrifice all of your fun either!" Konohamaru turned away. "I thought you knew that too, Naruto-nii-chan, but I guess you've forgotten! You're just like every other boring ninja now!" He looked at his two friends and started walking away. "Come on, Udon, Moegi! Let's find something else to do!" Naruto watched them and winced as they left.

"Hey! Come on!" Naruto said, letting go of Sakura's arm to go after them. "You shouldn't say that! I'm still cool!" Sasuke and Sakura sighed as their teammate left them alone for a group of children. "I'll teach you a new trick! Come on!"

"Hn." Sasuke watched as they got further down the street. Sakura suddenly realized that she was alone with her crush and felt a blush coming on. "Sakura." He said, without looking at her.

"Yes, Sasuke-kun?" She asked politely.

"You can walk on your own now, right?" He asked.

"Uh… I think so…" She said without thinking. As she caught her mistake, she made to fix it. "But I'd enjoy your com-"

"I need to look into something that concerns Team 7." He let go of her arm and made sure she could stand on her own before walking away.

"But… Sasuke-kun—"

"You should rest." Sasuke said, as he got further away. "We don't know what Kakashi has in store for us tomorrow, so rest now while you can." Sakura sighed as she lost sight of the boy and began the long, lonely trek back to her home.

Sasuke put his hand in his pockets as he started recalling everything he knew about Naruto. There was the fact that he'd found out during their last mission that she was capable of keeping big secrets, and a number of them at that. She had some kind of secret power that she and Kakashi either couldn't or wouldn't tell him about. She was an orphan, was about his age, maybe a few months younger. She was the dead last of their years in the academy.

That was it. 'Maybe if I had some of her more personal information, I might be able to come to a conclusion…' He sensed an obstacle ahead and only glanced up as he walked around it. But once he glanced the other person's hitaite, he froze. 'Foreigners? What are suna-nin doing here?' He thought as he recognized the symbol. He frowned and kept walking, content to ignore them. If they weren't causing trouble, they weren't his problem. 'But I should ask Kakashi about this…'

-

"Watch," Naruto said as she stood beneath a tree. She stuck one foot onto it and then another, and started walking up the side. "See?! Isn't this cool?"

"Wow!" The three academy students watched as she walked up the tree and then onto a thick branch that extended outwards. She was upside down and grinning at them. "How'd you do that?" they all asked excitedly.

"Well you see," Naruto said, going into her best imitation of Iruka-sensei's lecture voice. "You have to mold chakra and put some in your feet so that you stick to the tree! Too little, and you fall off. Too much and you blast off!" She said. She suddenly released her hold on the tree and flipped in the air, landing perfectly. "Tadah!" The children all clapped and cheered. "Now! Konohamaru, you try it!" She instructed.

"Huh?" He asked, wide eyed. "Uh… Okay…" He walked over to the tree and put his foot on it. The bark where his foot was exploded and Konohamaru flew backwards, flipping in the air until he landed on his head. He gave a groan and the rest of his body fell to the ground. Udon and Moegi immediately ran over to him.

"Konohamaru-kun! Are you all right?" Naruto laughed nervously and scratched her head as she watched them poke and prod the other boy. He woke up soon enough, however, and was looking at the tree with determination.

"Naruto-nii-chan!" Konohamaru said suddenly. "You watch! I will master this tree climbing by tomorrow!" He stood up and suddenly ran off, with his two flunkies following him. As they disappeared into the distance, Naruto sighed and shook her head.

"There's no way you can master that in one day. It took me almost a week!" She said exasperatedly. She stuck her hands in her pockets and turned around to start heading for her apartment. She stopped suddenly, as she caught sight of a red haired boy with 'Ai' written on his forehead standing in her path. His clothes were weird and he had a shawl wrapped around his neck. He had a blank look on his face, and was looking right at her.

"E-eh?" She asked, unnerved by his stare. "Who are you?" The boy didn't answer. "Uh, right… I'll just get going…" She said as she walked around him. She watched him out of the corner of her eyes and noticed that he was doing the same. 'Creepy guy…' she thought as he was finally out of her line of vision. She turned her head to make sure he wasn't following her, but all she saw was a few wisps of sand floating away.

---

Kakashi sighed as he walked into the clearing where Team 13 normally trained. Any other day, he would have avoided the place like the plague, but today was a special occasion.

Kakashi was a competent ninja. He was an accomplished ANBU captain, and had been a prodigy. His teacher had been the Yondaime himself who in turn was student to one of the 'Densetsu no Sannin', who in turn were the students of the Third and currently reigning Hokage. He'd mastered over a thousand jutsu thanks to the Sharingan that his dead friend had donated to him, something that could have been considered a taboo in the Uchiha clan were it not a time of war and his benefit from it helped them to achieve victory. He had created his own technique, and managed one time to cut through _lightning_ with it. He was feared around the world as one of the best Shinobi and was one of three people who have mastered one of the Yondaime's signature technique, the Rasengan.

Hatake Kakashi, had not, however, in his life, taught a Genin team. _Led one, _yes. But that hadn't ended too well, and teaching was different from leading anyway; he figured that leading the team in his absence would probably fall onto Sasuke's shoulders. None of the teams he'd had up until now had met his standards. They always failed the very first test. Because of this, he did not have experience working with Genin.

As he desperately did not want to repeat his past mistakes, after he left training area 7, he had sought out other Jounin that had experience with Genin. Asuma, despite his apparent experience, hadn't been too helpful; Kakashi could tell right away once he saw them that Team 10 hadn't improve _at all_ since they left the academy. He suspected that Asuma was having the same problem he had right then and there, but was too prideful to ask anyone for help. Kurenai had just finished working with her team, and from what Kakashi had seen he could tell that two of Team 8's members were near Sasuke's level while one of them was right around Naruto's.

The Inuzuka had the same way about him as the blonde girl did, and the Hyuuga, while appearing shy and demure (which he found rather odd, given her clan name) was definitely skilled at her family's Juken. The Aburame seemed to be typical for his clan, silent and almost always with one of his bugs in sight.

After embarrassingly explaining his problem to Kurenai, she had agreed to help him come up with a training regimen that would help his students improve in the field of Genjutsu. He didn't really need help with teaching them Ninjutsu, and she had suggested he see someone else for Taijutsu.

It was that person that he was now internally debating whether or not to really go and 'see'. He really did not want to 'see' the green-spandex clad man in any sense of the word.

Unfortunately, he was spotted and before he could make his decision, it was made for him.

"Hatake Kakashi! My eternal rival!" Kakashi groaned as the green nuisance speedily made his way to him. "Have you come here today to challenge me in a contest of the flames of our youth?"

"Actually, no, Gai," Kakashi said. "I just need some advice, that's all." He decided to be short and to the point. Gai looked surprised for the barest of moments, and then slightly inclined his head and smiled in a 'cool' way that Kakashi supposed was meant to be dramatic.

"Of course I will help you, Kakashi! Kurenai has already informed me on what you need, and I will be glad to assist you with fanning the flames of your team's youth!" Kakashi looked at him, disbelieving.

'When did she get the time to tell him that?' He thought, confused. "Uh, right. So you agreed? That's great." Kakashi paused for a moment. "So what exactly are you going to do to help?"

"It is quite simple, my rival! Your students will be wearing weights when they train in their Taijutsu!"

"Weights?" Kakashi asked, sounding annoyed. "How… primitive." Gai merely gave him a knowing smile and opened his mouth.

"LEE!" The jolly green giant called out suddenly. Kakashi fought to keep how startled he was by the sudden yell from showing with mixed results. When a clone of Gai suddenly appeared before him, Kakashi almost fainted.

He hadn't planned on dealing with _one_ Maito Gai that day. The fact that there were two now was not helping at all.

"YES, GAI-SENSEI?!" Jolly green junior cried out with a loudness rivaling the original's.

"Lee, my rival has requested that you demonstrate the power of your youth, and the difference that weights can make when training!"

"Yosh!" the one named Lee responded by clutching his fist and pumping it into the air. "Hatake-San!" Kakashi looked at the younger man and started sweating.

"Erm…yeah?" His politeness, while odd, was definitely refreshing.

"Prepare yourself!" The younger man struck up an odd stance and Kakashi blinked as he felt the hairs on his neck raise in alarm. The younger man attacked, but Kakashi found that he wasn't too hard pressed to defend himself. The boy was an absolute expert in Taijutsu, though; he made Sasuke look like a novice in terms of speed and strength, as well as flexibility with his style. Once he found one thing didn't work, he would try a number of other techniques. Yet Kakashi still had not seen what the purpose of this attack was; the younger man, while an incredible fighter, was nowhere near Kakashi's level.

After a good thirty seconds of fighting. Gai called for a halt and Lee immediately stopped his attacks.

"Gai, what was that all about?" He asked, irritation clear in his voice.

"Lee," Gai nodded to his subordinate with a knowing smile on his face. Lee seemed to understand and smiled as he reached down and started doing something to the tan things on his legs. Kakashi watched in confusion until Lee removed the pair of weights from his legs and gently set them on the ground. "Kakashi. This time, I really would prepare myself," He said in a 'cool' voice. Kakashi took the hint right away as the kid in front of him vanished and he barely had time to reveal his Sharingan before he had to dodge an attack.

'This kid… is fast! Too fast! How is this possible?!' He found himself seriously engaging the Genin and while he was still better, it wasn't by such a great divide. "This is impossible! How is a kid who's barely been a Genin for one year near Jounin level at Taijutsu?!"

"This is the power of my youth, Hatake-san!" Lee said, as if it explained everything. To him and Gai, it probably did, Kakashi thought. It was then that he realized the point of this exercise.

'The difference is that great? How much do those weigh?' He suddenly leapt away from Lee and held up his hands in surrender. He'd seen enough.

"Okay! Okay! The weights work!" He admitted. Lee abruptly stopped where he was and bowed to the silver haired Jounin.

"Good job, Lee! You may return to your training!"

"Thank you, Gai-Sensei!" The boy said in his loud voice. He suddenly appeared next to his weights and re-attached them, before running away at full speed to get back to whatever crazy exercise he had been doing before Kakashi's visit.

"Well then…" Kakashi sighed as he looked at the one man he would never have expected to ask for help in his life. Just then, both Jounin looked up at the sky as they heard a certain sound. "Eh? He wants us to go now?"

---

Sasuke sat down at a table in a library. There were various scrolls and tomes before him; most of them were chakra related. So far, there had been nothing about the red chakra that Sasuke had seen. The few Kekkei Genkai materials he had before him didn't say anything about a clan that had red chakra, either. There was a list of Konoha's prominent Ninja families and 'Uzumaki' was not one of them. He had hit a dead end with his search and it was giving him a headache.

"All of that time, wasted…" He muttered angrily as he started putting the research materials away. While he had learned quite a few interesting details, none of them had been worth all of the time he'd spent searching. When he was done, he looked out of a nearby window and realized that it was already evening. He shoved his hands in his pockets and walked out of the library, ignoring any verbal acknowledgements. As he reached the sidewalk, he turned to the left and began his long, lonely trek to the Uchiha compound.

'I'll have to look for personal information next… Is there _anyone_ else who knows something?' He frowned as he tried to recall anyone who might have had insight on the blonde kunoichi. 'She said… Shikamaru and Kiba found out before me. Kiba obviously found out because of his nose, but Shikamaru doesn't have such an ability. He had to have figured it out somehow.' Although Sasuke was _loath_ to ask for assistance in his search for information, he had to admit that it was starting to become incredibly frustrating. 'I'll have to figure out sometime to meet with him. And there's no guarantee that he'll help me.' Sasuke's memories defined Shikamaru as a lazy, cloud-loving moron who slept in class, and yet still managed to answer any questions asked of him correctly. He had not been impressed at the time, but now that Naruto had turned out to be far more than met the eye, he was having second thoughts.

Sasuke continued walking as the sun got lower and lower. Soon, it the sky started losing its color as the last of the sun disappeared over the horizon. Sasuke's stomach grumbled and he suddenly realized that it was dinnertime and he had gone without eating lunch. He looked up and frowned as he realized where he was. "I must be hanging around the dobe too much," he muttered as he stepped into the ramen stall.

-

Naruto hummed a cheesy tune as she finished cleaning off her table. It had been left a mess, and she hadn't been able to clean it that morning, as she was only half-awake at the time. The day had tired her out more than she thought possible; training with Sasuke hadn't exactly been a piece of cake, and she had taken a nap as soon as she got home. Now, it was evening, but she was feeling a bit energetic because of her nap, so she'd decided that dinner would be ramen. Not just any ramen, as not only was she hungry for something good, but she had run out of instant ramen packs at home anyway.

With her destination decided, she plastered a lop-sided grin as she straightened her hitaite and posed in front of a mirror, with one arm behind her back and the other bent in front of her, looking important. She pretended to be uninterested and looked at her rough nails then giggled lightly as she walked out of her room and shut the door behind her. "I-Chi-Ra-Ku, Ramen! Here I come!" She bolted off through the halls and down the stairs, much to the chagrin of the few people who bothered living in the same building as the Kyuubi container.

-

Sasuke folded his hands over his empty bowl as he sat and thought. He had eaten, and it seemed to be having a positive effect on his thought processes. 'I can get some information from reading the journals my relatives kept. There would have to be something about a child who had that kind of red chakra. If I can find…' His train of thought was abruptly cut short as a familiar voice met his ears and he groaned in annoyance. The orange abomination skipped around a corner and merrily walked into the ramen stall. She abruptly stopped her annoying humming as she stated her order.

"Hey, occhan! One Miso Ramen!" She called out cheerily. The old chef acknowledged her, just as happily as she sat down on one of the stools and turned around as she continued humming, and then she suddenly noticed Sasuke looking away, with his elbow on the counter and his head resting on his hand. "EEEEHHH!?" She said, cringing. "Sasuke-teme?! What the hell are you doing here?!"

"I was eating," Sasuke said in a bored voice as he turned to look down at his empty bowl. 'Then you showed up…'

"Really? You think you could go for another one?" Without waiting for an answer, she snapped her head to the man in the back. "Hey, old man! One more of whatever Sasuke-teme had before I showed up, on me!" She exclaimed. The old man grunted in assent as he started another bowl.

"On you?" Sasuke asked as he raised a brow in suspicion. Wasn't she hard up for money or something?

"It's the least I can do for earlier today," She said.

"A bowl of ramen will hardly make up for two hours spent tutoring you in Taijutsu," he said with a frown.

"Then have five!" She replied with a smile. She wasn't gonna let a jerk like Sasuke get her down, no way! Sasuke gave her a bored look and turned back to his empty bowl. Soon, his bowl was replaced with another and she had her own. Sasuke, having lived alone for most of his remembered life, and quite aware of the value of money, was not one to turn free food down. He ate at his own, slow and relaxed pace as she tore into hers. Sasuke briefly watched her and wondered how she managed not to splash it all over the place. 'Probably vacuum suction action at work.' He mused before returning to his own bowl. By the time he had finished it, she had already finished several more of varying flavors. 'They must give her a discount or something.'

"Say, old man," Naruto said suddenly. The chef looked at her as he finished drying off the bowl Sasuke had used before. "Where's Ayame no neechan?"

"Oh, she's out on a date," the old man said, frowning.

"Really? Was he that bad?" Naruto asked with an incredulous look on her face.

"Incredibly rude, he was! I tell you, that boy—" Sasuke tuned out their 'pleasant conversation' and focused on the bowl in front of him. Oddly, though he was already feeling quite full, he didn't want to leave and it would be awkward if he were staying for no reason.

"Naruto," Sasuke interrupted when it seemed like their conversation wasn't going to end. "Didn't you say I could have five bowls?"

"E-eh?" She asked. She suddenly started looking worried. "I didn't think you'd take me seriously!"

"It's too late. You offered," He said, giving her a sidelong glance.

"A..Aa…" She gave a weak smile. "So, old man, how's another bowl or two sound?" The old man gave Sasuke a calculating look and then smiled.

"Sure." He took a step back and started preparing their bowls.

"Naruto." She whipped her head around and looked at him. He was looking at her out of the corner of his eyes. "How many people know about you?"

"Eh? What do you mean?"

"Your… secrets."

"Oh!" a look of understanding dawned upon her. "Eh, a few. Why do you want to know?"

"I'm just curious." He said, looking at his folded hands.

"Oh, okay!" She looked up as if racking her brain for names. "Well, the old man and Ayame no neechan know," She said and Sasuke relaxed somewhat knowing that the chef knew about her. "You, Kakashi-sensei, Iruka-sensei, and Hokage-jii-chan know…" She tilted her head and brought a finger up to her mouth, and she closed her eyes. Sasuke noted she looked… odd, whenever she closed her eyes like that. "Oh, Kiba and Shika know… and I'm sure some of the ANBU that used to watch me when I was a kid know…other than that, no one I can think of…"

"Was a kid?" Sasuke asked. "You still are."

"What was that?!" She demanded. "I'm a ninja now! Genin are adults!" She said, thumping her chest and puffing up. Sasuke took note of the masculine behavior and decided to ask another question.

"Do you have any feminine tendencies at all?" He asked, frowning.

"Of course I do!" She said, sounding offended. "I… I… uh…" She 'hmm'ed and put her finger up to her mouth, narrowing her eyes again, this time in a slight frown. "Ano…ettou…" She gave up and turned to face the ramen chef, looking defeated. "Ano sa, Ano sa… Occhan, I have some feminine tendencies, don't I?" She asked.

The old man pretended that he didn't hear the question and Sasuke smirked.

"You don't know anything about being a girl because you're so focused on being a guy," He smirked. "Do you like girls, too?"

"Hey! That's a personal question!" She said, sounding offended again. "Why the hell are you asking all these questions anyway?"

"I'll take that as a yes," Sasuke said, turning back to look at his hands as Teuchi set a bowl in front of him.

"NO! I don't like girls that way!" Naruto said angrily. "I'm just playing around with Sakura-chan!"

"Playing around?" Sasuke asked, frowning. Naruto blushed as she realized how that sounded.

"Not like that!" Sasuke gave her a look that said 'Sure, and I'm looking forward to a hug-filled reunion with my estranged brother'. She grumbled some and crossed her arms as the old man put her own bowl in front of her.

"Maybe if you told someone, like Sakura, then you might learn," Sasuke said honestly. "But you won't tell anyone for some reason." She didn't have anything to say to that, so Sasuke decided to change the topic. "Naruto, what day were you born?"

"October Te…" She froze up. "So that's why you're asking all these weird questions," She started in an accusing tone. Sasuke looked at her in confusion.

"What day was that?"

"It was in October. That's all you need to know." she said, glaring at him. He shrugged and went back to picking at his Ramen.

"Whatever." 'I guess she's not going to answer any more questions. Hmm, October tenth? That was the same day that the Kyuubi attacked and was killed. Perhaps it has something to do with that?' When Naruto finished her own bowl he noticed that his was still full. "Say, can I take this home?" He asked. It wouldn't taste nearly as good re-heated, but it was still free food. The old man nodded in understanding and got out a plastic, take-home bowl. When he finally left, Naruto quickly paid, said her good-byes and followed.

"Chotto matta!" She called out. Sasuke stood there and looked at her when she ran over to him. When she arrived, she immediately started talking. "Why are you trying so hard to find out about me anyway?" She asked angrily.

"That kind of vital information is important." Sasuke snapped. "You leave your own teammates in the dark and don't expect them to try and find answers on the own?" He snorted as he scowled at her. "How are we supposed to function as a team if we don't even know each other?" She looked away as he said that and Sasuke merely continued on his way. He didn't care that he'd left her standing there, or that she had obviously been ashamed, nervous and afraid after what he'd said. He knew his words to be the truth.

He kept telling himself that… but after he made it home, set his food away and lay in his bed, the unmistakable feeling of guilt hung in the air.

---

Team Seven waited dutifully in Training Area 7 for their errant sensei. When he finally did show up, he noticed that there was a negative feeling hanging in the air just as had been the day before. Not even bothering with an excuse, he sighed.

"What's with you guys lately? You're acting all depressed again." Sasuke glared at Naruto, who seemed to be avoiding even looking at the other boy. Sakura was obviously feeling left out by their bi-play. "I had been thinking that maybe you were all Chuunin-material, but-" They all instantly snapped their heads in his direction.

"You're going to promote us?" Sasuke asked.

"Wow! You're great, Kakashi-sensei!" Kakashi rubbed his head nervously.

"Well you see, I'm not exactly promoting you per-se," He said, shrugging. "I'm nominating the three of you for the Chuunin Selection Exam." They all looked up at him in various states of confusion and disbelief.

"Another test?" Naruto asked, disappointed.

"This is a test to become Chuunin, not Genin," Kakashi said. "It's going to be much harder. And I've nominated you; so that doesn't mean you're already in it. You have to sign up." There was a pause as it sank in and he revealed three applications. "I'm not forcing you to do this but-"

"Of course we're going to be in this!" Naruto yelled out. Sasuke smirked his usual way and nodded.

"There's no way we'll pass up this chance." Sakura didn't say anything, and she seemed to be having conflicting thoughts.

"Right…" Kakashi started. "Well, you have the rest of the week to decide. For now, let's focus on your training, shall we?" He asked. They nodded and pocketed the applications. He took out three slips of paper and held them out for each one to take. Once they did that he began to explain their purpose. "All right, do you know about Chakra Alignments?" He asked. They all shook their heads no. "All Ninja have a certain natural affinity. A person with a fire affinity, could be a master at fire jutsu. A person who leans towards water jutsu, a water jutsu master." He let that sink in before continuing. "Now, There are five basic elements…"

"Fire, Wind, Lightning, Water, and Earth, right?" Sakura asked. Kakashi nodded.

"These cards are made from trees that are specially nurtured with Chakra. All you have to do is put in a little bit of Chakra to find out your chakra alignment. If it burns, fire. If it crumples up, lightning. If it gets wet, water. If it splits in half, wind. If it turns into dust, earth. Once we have finished that, I will choose an appropriate Taijutsu and ninjutsu style for the three of you and we can begin our full training."

"I already know I'm of a fire element," Sasuke said confidently. "Is it possible to have more than one element?" Kakashi nodded.

"Jounin are required to have at least 2 elemental affinities. I have several. The most prominent element is the one that shows in the card. Now, just put a little bit of chakra into the paper and it should tell us your element." Sasuke's burned up as he'd predicted. Sakura's became damp and started dripping water, and Naruto's split into two. Kakashi nodded. "Katon, Suiton, and Fuuton jutsu training it is. Before this, I thought of a jutsu for each element that you might have been. Sakura, I want you to go wait over by the stream. Naruto, you can stay right here, and Sasuke, follow me." They all nodded and Kakashi led Sasuke towards some trees while Sakura walked in a different direction.

Minutes later, Kakashi returned from the trees and casually walked over to her.

"So, Kakashi-sensei," Naruto asked excitedly. "What jutsu will I be learning today? Are you going to teach me how to make a tornado?"

"Actually, you aren't," Kakashi said.

"W-what?!"

"Before you learn any new jutsu, you need to learn better chakra control," He said, skirting the details of what he was trying to teach her. 'Elemental Recomposition… the theory behind that stuff would be way over her head right now. Sasuke was able to get a firm grasp of it, but this girl…' He shook his head. "Right now, I want you to take this leaf…" he held up a single leaf. "And attempt to cut it in half… with only your chakra. The paper split far easier because it reacted to the slightest amount of chakra. This should take far more." He threw it at her, and Naruto blinked as she caught it.

"I don't expect you to make progress too soon, but you're not known for your predictability." Naruto frowned, a little put-off by her sensei's lack of confidence in her. "You may begin," He said.

"Kakashi-sensei, aren't you going to go talk to Sakura-chan?" She asked, curiously.

"Don't worry about it," He said as he took out a little orange book. Naruto frowned at the title – another installment of the Icha Icha series… If she ever met the man who wrote those… She suddenly snapped out of her thoughts as she looked down at the leaf with a small amount of skepticism. Grunting, she focused on the leaf and started the long, arduous task of attempting to cut it in half with only her chakra.

-

Sakura looked up as she suddenly became aware of another presence. She noticed Kakashi lazily walking over to her. His only visible facial feature looked more bored than ever as he approached the girl.

"I can assume you know why we're here," He started. She nodded.

"Most Suiton require the presence of water, right?" She asked.

"That, and some of the other skills I'm going to teach you can't be learned without water around like this anyway."

"What skills? We're not learning Jutsu today?"

"You will learn one if we have enough time, which I'm guessing we will. The skill I am about to teach you is very similar to the tree walking skill I taught all three of you in the Wave Country. Like the tree walking, it should help you to learn more difficult jutsu. Although it is a Jounin level skill, I'm counting on you mastering it faster than usual, because of your natural learning speed as well as your affinity with water."

"Water Walking, sensei?" She asked curiously. He nodded and continued.

"Unlike the tree-walking exercise, you must channel a constant flow of chakra to your feet to walk on water." He walked over to the water, but continued without missing a beat and was soon standing in the middle of the river. "When you can get here, I will teach you your first Suiton Jutsu." She nodded to indicate that she understood his terms and soon put her foot on the water, and did as he said. At first, she tried using the same method with tree-climbing and experimented from there. Soon the water was solid under the weight of her single foot, and she started putting more weight on it, but then realized that her foot had started going under.

"Oh, it might be easier if you try it without sandals in the way," He said helpfully. She nodded and took a step back before taking them off and putting her foot on the water again. It was easier, as he'd said, and soon, after a few experiments that told her that the amount of chakra needed to keep her afloat was proportional to the amount of weight she had on the water, she took a few shaky steps out onto the water, stopping halfway between the shore and Kakashi. She walked around some before trying to go to Kakashi, and between her instinctually near perfect chakra control and her affinity for water, she had a perfect grasp of the skill in less than five minutes and walked over to Kakashi as if she had never left the ground.

Kakashi stared at her for a moment before speaking.

"I had been expecting you to fall at least once." He remarked, his visible eye freely showing his distaste. His only answer was an innocent smile as the girl realized that she'd denied him his fun. "Anyway, the Jutsu I'm going to teach you right now is Mizu Bunshin. Unlike the regular Bunshin no Jutsu, Mizu Bunshin are solid, like Kage Bunshin, and can attack or receive damage, or even manage other Jutsu. However, unlike Kage Bunshin, Mizu Bunshin require water to be nearby and have a certain range…"

-

Sasuke frowned as he once again preformed the hand seals necessary for the new jutsu that Kakashi had shown him. The Katon: Karyuu Endan would be the strongest Katon he knew so far, aside from his Unison Goukakyu no Jutsu with Naruto. Unlike the Goukakyou no Jutsu, the flames from the Karyuu Endan were more like that of a flamethrower, and they were definitely much hotter. He had only needed to activate his Sharingan (How to do it seemed to be instinctual now that he knew he could) and watch as the man preformed jutsu, and then try it himself.

He'd almost scorched his own throat several times in his attempts to do the attack, but so far it was the only one he was willing to try. It was a high-level jutsu, so he wasn't feeling too bad that he still hadn't mastered it yet. It was fit to be used in combat as it was, but it was nowhere near as powerful Kakashi's version of the Jutsu. Kakashi's had extended for far much more than a single meter.

A single meter, while impressive for a genin with that Jutsu, as Kakashi had told him several times, was still not impressive to Sasuke. He was Uchiha Sasuke, prodigy of the Uchiha clan! He should have mastered it the first time he'd seen it. Unfortunately, the technique drew upon much more chakra than he was used to using in a single attack. There was no way to make up for the gap in his and Kakashi's chakra reserves without training and using chakra as often as possible.

Not only that, but he was already starting to feel tired from using the same strenuous jutsu over and over. Finished with the necessary handseals, he took a deep breath.

"Katon: Karyuu Endan!" He released the stream of fire before him, and the flames stretched out for just over a meter. He scowled as the flames died out along with his breath. He started panting and resisted the urge to fall to the ground.

"That's enough of that for now. You can practice it and the other Jutsu I showed you at home," Kakashi said. He'd been suggesting that Sasuke should take a break for over ten minutes. It was an order now, and this did not get by Sasuke. The young Uchiha frowned at his teacher and grunted as he finally fell down to the ground and sat. "You can take a break," Kakashi said and Sasuke rolled his eyes. "We'll be training in Taijutsu next. Since you already seem to have some training in your family's style, I can help you further that along. You'd need someone with a Sharingan to teach you that anyway." Sasuke raised an eyebrow as he looked at the man.

"You know my family style?" He asked. Kakashi pointed at his eye as he spoke.

"I worked alongside several different Uchiha in my time as an ANBU Captain. One of them was the man who calls himself your brother."

-

Naruto narrowed her eyes at the leaf in frustration as she tried to cut it in half with only her chakra. She had been distracted way too much in the last hour (or was it two? She had lost track of time and the position of the sun had only changed a little bit) to have made any progress at all, sometimes 'waking up' with drool dripping down her chin from half-baked fantasies involving her as the Hokage, some world renown ultimate ninja or maybe even an S-class missing nin with a legendary entourage of… something or other.

'But there's no way I can be any of that if I can't even cut a leaf in half with my chakra!' She scowled at the leaf as she once again went back to the task of figuring out and testing ways to cut the leaf in half with her chakra. 'There's gotta be some other way to do this…' She thought angrily

"That's enough for now, Naruto. It's time to start our Taijutsu training for the day." He said, walking over to her. "Since you're a wind style specialist, you don't really need to improve the Taijutsu you know as much." She noticed that he was holding some strange looking weights up. They were obviously very light, as there was no strain at all in the way he walked. "But before you do that, you need to put these on." She looked at him questioningly, and for a second she was sure he looked… embarrassed? She shrugged and took the two weights – she was familiar with how they worked, although they didn't seem to really ever have any kind of noticeable results.

"Is there some trick to this?" She asked as she held them. She'd been right- they didn't weigh very much at all. Infact, she wouldn't have believed she was holding anything If she didn't see it in her hands. Kakashi muttered something that didn't sound too friendly and she wondered if she'd asked the wrong question.

"Yes," He said, annoyed. "You have to put in a little bit of your chakra into them. Then the weight changes to suit your own physical abilities. The weight would remain the same, regardless of who had them. If someone who could easily lift a house had put their chakra into those, your arms would have fallen off already." She frowned at that. Hmm… maybe someone who could lift a house had given them to Kakashi-sensei? That would explain his sour mood upon revealing the weights. The mental image of Kakashi-sensei struggling to hold the small weights made a smile creep onto her face.

"So Kakashi-sensei, is there a special way to put it in?" She asked.

"No, not really. Just put some chakra in it. It should get heavier." She did that and noticed the effects right away. The weights weren't too light for her to notice, but they were lighter than she thought they'd be all the same. "Now here's what you do…"

-

"Kakashi-sensei," Sakura said as she crawled up onto the riverbank. "That was mean…"

"Well, now you know how to walk on and under water," he said with a shrug. He'd 'forgotten' to tell her that putting chakra in the weights would most likely make her sink as the weight increased. So? He'd finally seen her fall, and for that he was satisfied. She rolled her eyes and wrung out her clothes best as she could. Then she sat down and stared down at the weights on her legs in disbelief.

"And how long do you think it is before I get some 'Noticeable results', anyway?" She asked.

"Well, as you know, there are no shortcuts to power," He started. "It should be a while before you even begin to notice anything at all. But it works, that is for certain."

"You seem so sure of it," She said, still looking a bit skeptical.

"I met the worst graduate of Konoha's academy from last year," He said stiffly. "That boy is near Jounin level in Taijutsu now because of this." Sakura's jaw dropped as she imagined Naruto suddenly and easily defeating Sasuke without breaking a sweat. Sasuke was good, but there was a clear difference in the levels of Genin and Jounin. With her apprehension suddenly gone, she nodded and stood up as she looked out at the river. The jutsu training had been tough, and although she had retained two that day, she'd still need to practice those and others before she could actually fight with them.

"Kakashi-sensei, are we going to start with the new style of Taijutsu today?" He looked at her appraisingly before nodding to continue. Her drive to improve had been increased greatly since the mission in wave country. Reality must have hit her incredibly hard at the time. Now that she was a full fledged kunoichi, she couldn't afford staring off into space and dreaming of waiting in her dream house for her dream spouse to come home and play with the kids while she cooked him a man's meal.

Uchiha Sasuke wouldn't have stood for such a woman, anyway. He was a boy who respected power that would grow into a man who respected power. Kakashi suddenly snorted as he had a thought. 'It's more likely that he'll end up with Naruto than Sakura,' The thought almost caused him to laugh out loud as he imagined miniature blond haired versions of Sasuke brooding around, or smaller black haired, red-eyed versions of Naruto playing pranks on the general populace. As it was, he did chuckle slightly - the second thought had reminded him of Obito, and though it was of his own suffering, it was a happier memory than most. He had been particularly upset, as it was the anniversary of his father's suicide, and Obito had seen fit to bring him back to reality by switching his milk with one that was long past it's due date.

Boy, had that been a rude wake-up call. Kakashi now checked his due dates with the dedication of a religious man.

But then he thought, Naruto and Sasuke ending up together? The thought was definitely laughable. They both had far too much pride. It would never work out between them.

"Kakashi-sensei? What's so funny?" He suddenly snapped back to reality and noticed Sakura was frowning at him.

"You've changed since then. It's a big change, too,"

"Since when?"

"Since I first met you. You were just another girl looking to snare Sasuke back then," He chuckled again and she blushed. "You might have complained about spending more time on training then…"

"Kakashi-sensei…" She groaned. "Can we start training now?"

"Sure, sure…"

-

Sasuke frowned as he looked at the sky. It was late afternoon, and their training was all but over. He'd have to find a way to contact the Nara, and maybe even convince him to help look into Naruto. Sasuke would not be reduced to begging, but if the Nara wanted something in return, he would have it, if possible.

"That should be good enough for today," Sasuke turned to look at his teacher. "You should practice the lower leveled Jutsu that I taught you before trying the Karyuu Endan again, Sasuke. It's practically useless at its current range. The Karyuu Endan is a Jonin level Jutsu, afterall. It's remarkable that you can even do it to the extent that you do."

"…Whatever." Sasuke turned and started walking away from his teacher.

"Wait, Sasuke. I did not dismiss you." Sasuke stopped and slowly turned back around to face his teacher. "What is your problem with Naruto today?"

"What do you mean?"

"This morning, you were upset with her, and she couldn't even look at you. What happened?"

"We ran into each other last night. I expressed how upset I was that she keeps major secrets from her teammates."

"You sure you don't mean friends?" Kakashi asked, raising a brow. "Is that all she and Sakura really are to you? Teammates?"

"I…" Sasuke frowned at his teacher. "…Have said more than enough."

"That's right," Kakashi said, suddenly curious. "You're being more forthcoming than usual. Why?" Sasuke turned around halfway as he answered.

"I was hoping you might be able to talk some sense into her. Was I a fool to have believed that?" Kakashi sighed.

"I can't force her to tell her secrets, nor are they mine to tell. I agree with you on this, but Naruto is more than likely afraid to how you'll react. If you can recall, I said before that she did not have any friends growing up." Sasuke nodded as he remembered the conversation with Inari he'd unintentionally overheard. "I can imagine that Naruto is incredibly scared that if she shares her secret with you, that she'll lose her only friends." Sasuke frowned at that.

"Friends… You keep saying that word."

"Because of her upbringing, Naruto has a very skewed sense of that word. To her, anyone who doesn't immediately despise her without reason is probably a friend. She's probably afraid that no matter what she does; tell you the secret or not, she'll lose you." Sasuke's frown deepened as he considered that.

"I don't think she considers me a friend at all." He said, turning around. "Probably the same way I feel about her; an unavoidable nuisance."

"Sasuke…"

"I will do as you said and practice the other jutsu," Sasuke said indifferently, walking away.

"Hmm… did I just make things worse?" Kakashi shook his head exasperatedly and exploded in a puff of smoke.

-

Naruto looked up as her Jounin sensei suddenly froze up. After a few seconds, he looked down at her with an exasperated look.

"We're done for the day." He said, somehow suddenly lacking energy he'd had not a minute ago. "I want you to practice the things I showed you as much as possible on your own. If you do decide to take the Chuunin exams, you'll need all the help you can get."

"Okay," She nodded.

"Naruto, I wanted to talk to you about something before you left."

"Eh?"

"I noticed how you and Sasuke were acting this morning," He said with a frown. She grimaced.

"E-eh? What the heck are you talking about?"

"I know what happened last night," Kakashi said suddenly. "Naruto. You need to be able to trust your own friends." He continued even when she froze up. "The nature of what is sealed into you is very dangerous. While I nor any sane resident of Konoha who does not have a death wish will not be volunteering that information to anyone anytime soon, you should consider what would happen if they found out through different means." He exploded in a puff of smoke, leaving Naruto to blink as she recognized the technique.

"Kage Bunshin? Hmmm…"

-

"Well, you're dismissed for the day," Kakashi said as he stood over a panting Sakura. They were both standing on the water, and had been working on her ability to multitask by seeing if she could not only fight while on the water, but use other chakra consuming jutsu at the same time. She had fallen in twice and there were three other close calls where she sank up to her ankles in the water. She was sopping wet, not having bothered trying to dry off after the second fall.

Kakashi was still dry, save for where he'd been splashed by dispersed mizu bunshin.

"Sakura," Kakashi said suddenly. "I would advise you to try and spend more time with both Naruto and Sasuke. Invite them out to a team dinner or something."

"Huh?" She asked, confused. "Why?"

"For team building, of course. They need it more than ever, it seems. And they'll never try to get together on their own like that, at this point. And you as well; you barely know your teammates." Sakura frowned.

"That's not true…" She said, defensive.

"What do you know about Naruto? Or Sasuke, even?" Kakashi asked, crossing his arms.

"Well… I know he's all alone… he's really cool… and he… he's really strong. He was the top rookie." She frowned as she tried to think of something else. "And uh… Naruto likes Ramen… he's not too smart… and he's really annoying because he tries to ask me out all the time…" She trailed off nervously, looking up at her Jounin sensei.

"…Sakura. When you can say that you know something about Sasuke that Sasuke told you, you can say you know him. Same for Naruto. Until then, you know of them, which is not the same." Sakura looked down at the water as she realized that he was right. She didn't know that much about her teammates at all. "You shouldn't feel too bad, Sakura. At least you're trying to improve yourself. Right?" He asked. She looked up and gave him a weak smile.

"Yeah…"

---

Sasuke looked up at the door to the Nara's house with indifference set on his face. He honestly did not want to meet with someone else, but the only other person who seemed to have any insight on Naruto was the boy who lived in the home in front of him. Twice on his way there he'd considered in length just going home and either going through some old journals, or just plain forgetting about Naruto.

She wasn't an important person, anyway, and even if the boy's words were to be believed and his strength and power had increased to the max when he'd been protecting Naruto and Sakura, then Naruto's power had been pushed _beyond_ her limits when she intended to avenge her fallen comrades. She'd never used that red chakra before, and had always been much weaker than Sasuke. There was that one time after their graduation, but that was just it – one time, and a fluke too, as she'd managed to get the drop on him.

And then through that train of thought, he was led to the same conclusion; that he had to become stronger than Naruto. And that in itself was annoying because he was stronger than her – he _knew_ he was stronger than her. Hell, _she _knew that he was stronger than her. She'd expressed a deep desire just to be _acknowledged as a ninja_ by 'him' and it didn't take much to figure out who 'him' was. It was all frustrating.

Just as Sasuke was about to raise his arm and knock, the very boy he'd been looking for opened the door for him.

"What do you want?" he asked with a lazy look on his face. Sasuke's uncaring mask faltered slightly at being caught off guard, but he got to the point right away.

"I need your help with something." The other boy raised an eyebrow in confusion as he considered that. "It's about Naruto." A look of understanding suddenly dawned on his face and the Nara. "I need you to tell me everything you know about her. She's become a big problem on Team 7, and it's not from her lack of skill." Shikamaru sighed at that.

"That girl is too troublesome," Shikamaru said in an annoyed voice, not too surprised that Sasuke knew about her true gender. "I gave up trying to figure her out a while ago." He moved to shut the door but Sasuke started talking again.

"What do you know about 'Red Chakra'?" He said quickly. Shikamaru frowned as he considered that. The fact that he'd spoken so quickly meant that he was desperate. Shikamaru didn't want to know what it could have been that would have made the usually stoic Uchiha _desperate_, as he'd long ago realized that only one person would probably be capable of making Sasuke feel that way, and he was gods knew where.

"…There is no such thing." Shikamaru replied carefully.

"Naruto's Chakra was red," Sasuke said. "It made her incredibly powerful. She was moving faster than I could see, even with the Sharingan activated." Shikamaru drew back at that. He turned his head in and frowned. "When I asked her about it, she froze up. When I found out about her, Kakashi hinted that there was even more under the surface than I thought and some things even she wasn't aware of. I've researched her abilities, and so far I have not found a Kekkei Genkai or Jutsu of any sort that is related to the Red Chakra I saw." Shikamaru stood there for a few moments, before he abruptly sighed and shook his head.

"Listen. I don't really want to get started with this girl again. Stop giving me new information." Sasuke scowled at that. "I'll tell you what I know about her, but that's it. Don't drag me in any further than I already am. Figuring out this girl takes up way too much time. She's the most troublesome woman I know because of that, even though she acts more like a guy." He took a step back and looked at Sasuke. "If you really want to know about her, you'll probably want to take a seat or something." He turned around and walked further into his own house, leaving Sasuke at the door.

Sasuke stood there for a few moments before he finally walked in and shut the door behind himself.

----


	4. Chapter 4

**Standard Procedure:**

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of the characters used in this chapter.

----

Hoshigaki Kisame looked on in disinterest as his partner stood on a cliff overlooking his hometown.

"Do you think they'll take the warning seriously?"

"…That depends." Itachi replied. "It's likely that they'll be on guard, but are more interested in finding out how their anonymous source came upon the information."

"I see." Kisame nodded in understanding. He turned around and started walking away. "We still have a month before we can do anything, then. Let's not stay here for too long, someone is bound to notice us eventually." It took a moment, but soon Itachi turned away from Konoha and followed him. "So, I heard your younger brother was going to be in the exam. What do you think of that?"

"…He will do well enough." Itachi's answer was devoid of emotion. "His will to survive is too great."

"Is that so…" Kisame decided to drop the subject.

Suddenly, a boy appeared before them and they both stopped. Both of them, S class-nin that they were, knew that he posed no threat to them and so did not react as thus.

"Kisame-san," The boy greeted. Kisame blinked at being regarded by the younger boy and grinned.

"Haku. It's been far too long," He said. Itachi gave him a sidelong glance and decided not to interfere. Kisame suddenly noticed something that was wrong with the picture. "And from the weapon that you carry, I don't think I have to ask how far behind Zabuza is." He said with a slight frown. That was too bad. Zabuza had been a fun guy.

Atleast his apprentice wasn't stupid enough to let his zanbatou just sit and rot at his grave, though.

"I am sorry for the sudden appearance, but I have a favor to ask of you, Kisame-san," Haku started, getting right to the point. "Since Zabuza-san's death, I have been training myself to use the Kubikiri Houchou… However, without a proper teacher, I find my skills to be lacking," He said simply. "I can hold it well enough, but I strain myself far too quickly to use the blade efficiently in battle. I wish to deal the killing blow to my enemies with the blade of the man they defeated." Kisame had realized by then exactly what Haku was seeking in him. "I am of course, prepared to offer my services in return."

Kisame regarded him for a few moments as he considered the pros and cons of accepting Haku as his student. If Haku became good enough and could be convinced to join Akatsuki, his Kekkei Genkai would greatly assist their capturing of the Jinchuuriki and their Bijuu. Itachi stood by silently, waiting for his partner to make his decision. Haku glanced at the other man and found he was greatly reminded of another person…

"…_I need to get stronger so I can kill a certain man." _

"_That man… My brother… I didn't want to die until I had killed him…"_

"Well then, I suppose we can make use of you," Kisame said with a toothy grin. "This is my partner, Uchiha Itachi." Itachi didn't react at all to the mention of his own name. And it was with the uttering of his surname that Haku instantly realized why the partner seemed so familiar.

The Uchiha clan had been all but totally slaughtered, by one of it's own members no less. There were supposedly only two survivors left, and he had met one in combat not too long ago.

The other was standing right before him.

"You've met my brother," Itachi said suddenly, and Haku realized that the other man had activated his Sharingan. Haku slowly nodded, not wanting to do or say anything that might offend the other man. While Haku was aware that Itachi had slaughtered almost his entire family, he had left his little brother alive, and that said something to the younger man. Whether or not the other ninja cared, however, was debatable.

"He trains hard so that he may kill you," He spoke carefully without any emotion. "He said it was the only reason he lived." Itachi didn't respond, and Haku wondered for a moment if he'd said something wrong. But then Haku swore that there was a ghost of a smile on his face…

---

Sasuke sat under a lamp at a table in the Nara's room, looking over the notes he and the other boy had collected. Although he had been resistant at first, Shikamaru had soon been swallowed up in the maelstrom of mystery that was one Uzumaki Naruto and was actively helping the 'Last' Uchiha look for clues and information about their mutual 'friend'. So far, they had come to several surprising conclusions from their shared details, and some of them were incredibly frightening.

The facts were simple: She was Uzumaki Naruto, Age 12, Female. Born October 10th(Sasuke had discovered that with his influence as an Uchiha), had a seal of some sort on her belly (Shikamaru had found that out when they were cloud watching years ago) could produce red chakra, and did not want to talk about where it came from. The only Red Chakra that they knew of had been produced by the Kyuubi (something Sasuke had gleamed from his father's journal, as the color of it's chakra hadn't been detailed in textbooks, just that it was malevolent and evil), and the day it had 'died' was October 10th.

The conclusions thus were simpler still: One, and this was the one they both thought to be most likely, was that the seal kept the Kyuubi no Youkou locked inside her, which would have explained the red chakra and some other things about her, including those odd whisker like marks on her face. Two, she was a re-incarnation of the monster, and the seal kept her immense chakra from being used until it was absolutely necessary. Or Three, that she and the Kyuubi were completely un-related, and the seal, red chakra, and other things were something else entirely.

Shikamaru had guessed that possibilities one and two would have explained why the adults seemed to hate her with such a passion; if she had the demon sealed in her gut then they could easily forget that she wasn't the demon itself. And if she was a reincarnation, then she really _was_ the demon, but her birth as a human infant had made her innocent and weak, and while refusing to kill her again, they still treated her like garbage. Either one was rather disturbing, even if understandable.

The references they'd used were all details on her personal life, to textbooks and library materials. Shikamaru had sighed at some point and revealed that he'd never studied or researched this much for all of his book reports combined. Sasuke had merely smirked at that – leave it to Naruto to get someone so lazy to put in more work than they'd ever done in their lives.

The day of the Chuunin Senbatsu Shiken was soon to be upon them however. As Sasuke thought about it, he realized it was almost midnight and then it really would be the day of the Chuunin Exams.

"Sasuke-san," Shikamaru started with a yawn as he sat down on his bed. "It's gotten late and we have that troublesome exam starting tomorrow. Don't you think you should rest or something?" He asked. They'd both, on unspoken agreement, stopped referring to each other by their family names on the third day of their research. Sasuke would always come after his training, and Shikamaru would have done a little bit of research and theorizing by the time the Uchiha had made it to his house.

"Hn," Sasuke grunted as he leaned back in his chair and rubbed his eyes. "You're right." He stood up and stretched, glad to be out of the chair finally. "We'll see each other tomorrow, then." He said.

"Unfortunately," The Nara sighed, and Sasuke smirked. He was more than aware of how reluctant Shikamaru was to do any kind of work. The Chuunin exams had to be extra work. The only reason he was doing it was because Asuma had told them all that it was a team assignment, and that one couldn't get in without their genin cell mates. Ino had at that point threatened him and Choujin severe bodily harm if they did not help her in the exams. She was fairly convinced that if she became a Chuunin that Sasuke would be impressed and date her.

Sasuke had frowned when Shikamaru got to that part.

"_She's got the right idea that such a thing might impress me, but the reasons are all wrong. I would have seen through it instantly."_

Sasuke stood and walked out of the other boy's room.

---

Sakura slowly walked towards the academy where the Chuunin Exams were being held. Her training had been exhausting, as Kakashi had told her that she was to wear the weights as often as possible rather than just during Taijutsu training, to catch her up to them. The other two could have, but they still did not believe that the results would be as drastic as Kakashi said, so they declined. Sakura, however, had been desperate enough to do anything Kakashi told her would make her a better fighter. When she finally she arrived at the academy, she noticed that both of her teammates were present. Sasuke was leaning up against the front wall of the academy, near the door, and Naruto was looking around at all of the other ninja in wonder.

"Sakura-chan, you're late!" Naruto exclaimed. Sasuke merely glanced at her and went back to looking bored.

"Sorry…Good morning, you two," She said. They seemed to be getting along well enough, today… Perhaps she could invite them out to dinner that night, as Kakashi had suggested. "Did you both sleep well?"

"Yeah!" Naruto shouted, pumping her first into the air. "I had Ramen last night and this morning, too! I'm definitely ready for this!"

"Let's go then," Sasuke said, standing up and walking into the academy. Naruto quickly followed and Sakura ran to catch up. Sakura frowned as she thought of how her teammates had been acting recently. They rarely spoke with each other, and whenever they did, they either fought or got close to it. Today they seemed to be worried about something more important than the other. 'They must be thinking about the Chuunin exams. Although, it all feels so surreal to me… we haven't even been genin for a year. One C-ranked mission and we're already taking the Chuunin exams. Then again, it was more like an A-ranked mission… Hokage-sama even recorded it as such for us.' She followed them up the stairs to the second floor and looked around in confusion at the big gathering of people.

As she was looking around, she noticed that the door to the classroom they needed to get to in order to turn in their applications was being blocked off by two of the older Konoha Genin. There was another Genin lying on the ground before them and a girl was standing there behind him. They were all talking about something, but she didn't pay it any mind and continued looking around. Why was everyone standing around when there were only two people blocking their way? They couldn't hope to hold them all back. It was then that she noticed something rather odd. The sign above the door read '301', but it was a fact that they were only on the second floor. She frowned and formed a single handseal.

"Kai!" She released the Genjutsu and looked up at the sign. It now read 201, and everyone was looking at her. She blinked as she realized what she had just done and Sasuke looked at her, impressed. 'Alright! Some recognition at last!' Sakura smiled at Sasuke and he smirked back.

"You there, pink haired girl," She looked up at the mention of her name and saw one of the blockers pointing in her direction. "Who are you?" He sounded impressed.

"A…Ano, Haruno Sakura," He nodded and smirked at her.

"Well then, Haruno-san," He started, walking away with his buddy. "I have a feeling you'll do well in this exam, unlike those guys," He gestured towards the green spandex wearing kid and his girlfriend that he and his buddy had knocked away earlier. When they were finally gone, everyone else started moving normally again. The kid in green stood up and walked over to her, and she noticed his cheeks were pink.

"S-Sakura-san, was it?" He asked. "My name is Rock Lee. I wanted to thank you for helping us." He smiled and gave her a thumbs-up. "I'll take you out to dinner tonight!"

Sakura paled as she took in everything about the boy. He was wearing green spandex, with his Hitaite wrapped around his waist. He had an obscene bowl cut, his eyebrows were so thick they had to be alive, and his lower lashes were…eww.

"No…way…" his face fell and he sagged as his team mates walked over to grab him.

"Come on, Lee," the girl said. She looked over at Sakura. "I'm sorry about that. He's a little funny in the head sometimes." She dragged him away and the only one left was the boy with white eyes, who Sakura realized had to be a Hyuuga. He merely looked over all of them, his eyes lingering on her, and turned away and left.

"That was great, Sakura-chan!" Naruto yelled excitedly. "You saw through the Genjutsu right away!"

"Does that mean you didn't, Naruto?" Sasuke asked with a smirk.

"E-eh, not right away, but I saw it!"

"Calm down, you two. We have more important things to do now," Sakura said. 'And I'd thought they'd be able to see around each other today…' "We need to register for the test." She grabbed them both by the wrist roughly and started walking away, surprising them both. "And I'm not going to have you killing each other when we need to be a team!"

-

Team Seven walked down an empty hall into a large room. They'd turned their applications in already, and were all looking around to kill some time until the actual test started at three o'clock.

"Wait!" came a voice. They looked up and noticed that the training hall they were in had a raised ceiling and a second floor with a railing so that the fights below were visible from up high. Up on the second floor, the green boy from earlier was standing there. He jumped down the railing and walked over to them, but more specifically, to Sakura. She looked up at him in wide-eyed. "Sakura-san," He said. "Please, would you reconsider going out with me tonight? I'll pay for everything!" She backed away from him in horror and glared.

"No way!"

"But Sakura-san…love!" He winked at her and gave his thumbs-up again.

"She said no," Sasuke said in a firm voice. "She means no." Sakura looked over at him thankfully.

"I see…" The green boy wilted, but then suddenly looked at Sasuke. "Then, you must be…" He stood straight and gave the other boy a look of determination. "Fine then. I will challenge you in combat for the right to date her!"

There was silence.

"…I refuse," Sasuke said finally, with an annoyed expression. "That's a ridiculous thing to fight over." Sakura's jaw dropped. Sasuke smirked as he saw that and continued. "As far as I'm concerned, date her if you can. But she said no, and I'm just a friend who's not going to let some punk harass her." Sakura closed her mouth and her face lit up with hope.

'He considers me a friend…'

"I… I see," Lee said, devastated. "Then… I will leave you alone…" He turned around and started walking away, looking as dejected as possible all the while.

"O-oi!" Naruto said suddenly. "I'll accept your challenge, fuzzy brows!" Sasuke and Sakura whipped their heads in her direction.

'N…NO!' Sakura frowned. 'Don't give him the impression that you're my-'

"Naruto, that's not necessary," Sasuke said. "Let him be. Certain people need to learn how to accept no for an answer."

"Well yeah, but you guys didn't need to hurt his feelings so bad, Sasuke!" He said. Lee froze up at the second name.

'Sasuke…' He turned around again and finally noticed something about Sakura. 'She's wearing…' He blinked. 'Then this is Kakashi's team! Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura, and that Naruto fellow…'

"Lee, there you are," called out an exasperated voice. He looked up at Tenten. "Neji told me I could find you here. What the heck are you doing?"

"Ah, Tenten-chan," Lee started. "I was about to-"

"It doesn't matter," She interrupted. "It's almost time to start the test! We have to be in there in less than ten minutes. Come on!" She snapped, turning away and walking off.

"Hai…" the boy agreed weakly. He turned to look at the three. "I look forward to meeting the three of you in the exams," He saluted them and then vanished. They gawked at that, as there was no smoke after-effects, which were the tell tale sign of the Shunshin no Jutsu. Instead, he'd just vanished.

"Rock Lee, huh…" Sasuke muttered. "And the other guy was a Hyuuga… Neji, If I'm not mistaken…"

"What's that, Sasuke?"

"Last year's best and worst," Sasuke replied simply. "Lee was our sempai last year, remember?" He asked. The other two strained their memories. Naruto had a sudden look of recognition.

"Oh yeah! Fuzzy Brows couldn't do a single jutsu, right? He must have gotten way better! I wonder who his sensei was?"

"Whoever he is, he must be as good as Kakashi-sensei." The three leapt up to the railing and onto the second floor, as it was faster than the stairs, and started in the direction Lee and his female teammate had come from.

-

Kakashi smirked as his students stared at him. They were standing in the hall that led to the testing room, and he was blocking the door.

"So Sakura came too. That's good. Now you can properly take the test." Sakura's eyes widened and she looked at him in confusion.

"What do you mean?"

"Sakura," Sasuke started. "This test can only be taken by entire teams. If you hadn't come with us, we'd have been turned around at this point." Sakura looked at him in surprise.

"He's right." Kakashi looked at all of them for a few moments and then stood aside. "I just wanted you all to know that I'm proud of you. Do your best." They all nodded and walked inside the room, closing the door behind them.

Kakashi stood there for a few moments before walking away.

'I wonder if I've done the right thing…Their recent training has told me just how much of a deficit they have, but… they did well on that mission. They're not like every other Genin team…'

Inside the testing room, Sakura was looking around at the huge numbers of people taking the exam. 'Huh… There's so many other people here… and they all look so much stronger than us…'

"Ahh! It's been a while, Sasuke-kun!" Sakura turned around just in time to see Sasuke move to the side, and Ino fall onto the ground where he'd been. "Ow!" She rubbed the spot where she'd hit the ground and sat up. "That was mean, Sasuke-kun…"

"Ehhh? If it isn't Ino-pig! Serves you right!" Sakura pointed at the blonde girl and Ino looked up at her in recognition.

"It's forehead girl! Looking ugly and brutish as usual!" She sneered, standing up.

"What a troublesome group," came an annoyed voice from the side.

"Eh? It's the idiot trio!" Naruto realized as she noticed Shikamaru and Chouji.

"Don't call us that," Shikamaru frowned. He looked at Sasuke and the other boy nodded his own greeting. "Those other three should be around here somewhere-"

"Alright! We found you!" came a loud voice from the side. Naruto looked up and saw Kiba, Hinata, and Shino walking towards them. They stopped at a fair distance and Kiba continued. "So it looks like everyone is gathered here… All of the rookies, eh?" He smirked. "I'd like to see how far we get in this thing…" Naruto looked away and saw Hinata staring at her. The other girl noticed her gaze and smiled, waving at her. She shrugged and waved back.

"You look confident, Kiba," Sasuke smirked.

"Like the dog he is, he barks loud to build up his own confidence," Naruto said with a wave of her hand. Sasuke looked at her dubiously as Kiba scowled at her.

"You should talk," Kiba started. "You're the loudest-"

"Hey, hey, calm down," Came a new voice from the side. They all turned and saw a grey-haired genin with glasses walking towards them. "You don't want to cause a scene, do you?" He asked, motioning the other contestants. The Rookie nine all turned to face them and noticed that they were being watched by nearly everyone in the room. "Tension is high. Everyone's nervous about the test. Those guys over there have short tempers," He said, gesturing towards the Ame-nin. "You guys are only rookies, so you shouldn't be looking to cause trouble."

"Hey, what do you know?" Kiba snarled with Naruto right behind him. "You may be a Konoha-nin, but no one bosses me around," He said, thumbing himself in the chest. The blonde girl nodded angrily and glared at the unknown genin.

"Pack animals, you are," He said, motioning towards Naruto and Kiba with a single hand. Most of the rookies laughed lightly at Naruto having the dog remarks directed back at her, even if it was from someone else. "But honestly? I've taken this test six times. This is my Seventh attempt." They all gawked at that information. "They have the test twice a year, so this is my fourth year."

"Is the test that hard?" Shikamaru asked with a frown. 'This guy doesn't look particularly weak or dumb… Maybe at first glance, but…' The grey haired teen before them smirked slightly.

"Since you're all rookies, I'll help you out." He walked closer to them and took out a set of cards with the kanji for Nin on them. "These are my Ninshiki cards…"

"Nin-info cards?" Sakura asked, confused.

"They have information on this exam." He knelt down to the ground and set them down. "The information is burned in with the use of my Chakra. So that they are useless to any thieves, they have white faces, until…" He took out one card and set it face up on the ground. There was nothing on it at all. "I use my own chakra to reveal the information hidden on them." He span the card on the ground with his left index finger and there was a puff of smoke. "Like this." He held it up for them to see and the rookies all got close to see what was on it.

"What kind of information is this?" Sasuke asked, confused by the map before him. There were green bars marking where several hidden villages were.

"This displays how many people are participating in the exam," the teen said helpfully. "And country they are from." The map suddenly made sense to Sasuke and the rookies all stood back. "Why do you think they are having the exam between different countries?" He asked. When no one answered, he continued. "They say it's to strengthen the alliance between countries, and to raise the level of Shinobi as a whole."

"They say?" Sasuke asked.

"Yeah, the real purpose is to measure the shinobi strength of other countries, and to keep the balance of power stable between the neighboring countries."

"Huh…" Naruto crossed her arms and looked down in thought. "Power…stable…"

"Why would they do such a troublesome thing?" Shikamaru asked with a frown. The grey haired genin released the card infront of him and its face became blank again.

"Because, if they don't, the weaker countries would quickly be attacked and conquered by the stronger countries. There's importance in experiencing this together. Well… Probably."

"Do you have any information on specific people?" Sasuke stepped forward.

"Yes, I do," the genin nodded. "I even have information on you guys," He smirked.

"Really? Wow, You're incredible, uh…" Naruto started.

"Yakushi Kabuto," Kabuto supplied.

"Yeah! Kabuto-nii-san!" She finished with a grin. Kabuto looked taken aback at the informality, but shrugged it off fast enough.

"All you need to do is tell me something about the person," Kabuto said as he reminded them of Sasuke's question. "Is there anyone you have in mind?"

"Yeah."

"Well, the information I have isn't perfect, but I do have it. So who is it?"

"Rock Lee, from Konoha." Kabuto nodded.

"You even have his name. That should make it easier…" He closed his eyes and concentrated his chakra on the thick deck before him. Suddenly, he swiped one from somewhere in the deck and held it up. "This is it." He put it down on the ground and spun it again. The signature puff of smoke came and he inspected the card. "Rock Lee. He's a year older than you guys. Mission history: 20 D Ranked missions completed and 11 C Ranked missions. His specialty is Taijutsu. His Taijutsu have greatly improved this year; nothing else is impressive. Last year he gained attention as a talented new Genin, but he didn't participate in the Chuunin Exam. Like you guys, this is his first time. On his team are Tenten and Hyuuga Neji."

Naruto noticed Hinata's attention at the last name that came and tilted her head to the side. 'Hyuuga…wait, that's her name, isn't it?'

"Is there anyone else?" No one else seemed to have anything to ask, but an idea suddenly came to Naruto.

"Hey, hey. Is there a creepy guy with red hair and a tattoo on his forehead in this exam? The tattoo was…uh… Ukeru? No…Ai… Yeah. And he had a big thing on his back too." Everyone looked at the girl sharply. Kiba snorted, holding back laughter.

"U-uke," the dog user was visibly straining not to laugh.

"I'll see if I can come up with something," Kabuto said, dispelling Lee's card and putting it back. He closed his eyes in concentration again and swiped another from the stack. "This is the closest to the description you gave me…" He set it down and twisted it with his finger again, and the signature puff of smoke appeared from the card along with his information. "His name is Sabaku no Gaara. He's from Sunagakure… The gourd on his back is a weapon of some sort. Eight C ranked missions and one B ranked mission. He has returned from all missions without a scratch…" Naruto leaned down and looked at the picture with wide eyes. "Hmm…A B ranked mission as a genin…"

"Th-that's definitely him…" The blonde said, awed. Sasuke frowned as he looked at Naruto. "He's good…"

"How did you run into such a dangerous guy?"

"I was just walkin' down the street and he pops up out of nowhere, stares at me like some weirdo and then disappears."

"Is that so?" Kabuto asked with a smirk.

"Hey, hey! Kabuto-nii-chan!" She said, changing the subject. "You said you have information on us, right?"

"Yeah, that's right." the silver-haired genin pushed his glasses up.

"What does mine say? Well? Well? What's mine say?" Kabuto chuckled as he put Gaara's card back after releasing it and closed his eyes in concentration again, before taking out another card. "Eh? But I didn't tell you my name yet—"

"It was easy. All I had to do was think of someone loud and blonde, who was a rookie."

"You might have gotten hers then," Shikamaru said, gesturing Ino.

"Hey!"

"Calm down, calm down. I'm fairly certain I got Naruto's," He said.

"E-eh?" Naruto looked at him, confused.

"Because everyone in Konoha knows your name, Naruto." The boy smiled disarmingly and they all relaxed as they realized Naruto's reputation was to blame. He spun the card on the ground and a puff of smoke appeared. "Okay then. Uzumaki Naruto. Rookie. Seven D Ranked missions and One A Ranked mission." He was honestly impressed and looked up at Naruto. All of the other rookies were gawking at Sasuke, Sakura, or Naruto. "That's impressive for a genin. How did that happen?"

"Eheh, it's a long story," Naruto grinned, scratching her head and blushing. "Quick! What else, what else?" Sasuke had smirked and crossed his arms, while Sakura beamed at the mention of their accomplishment. Even though she didn't really help, there was no way she was going to let that stop her from feeling good for her teammates.

"Okay." Kabuto looked down and continued reading it. "Specialty is… apparently Ninjutsu?" He blinked at the word that preceded Ninjutsu. 'Maybe' did not belong these information cards… He looked up at the note. "Most promising Kunoichi of her year, despite having graduated dead last." He paused and frowned at the card. There was no lying with these things. The information was absolute, of that he was certain. Most of it was taken straight from the Hokage's… 'She acts like a guy so well. Even I was fooled.' Sasuke, Shikamaru and Naruto all looked surprised.

'Those things… don't lie,' was the thought that passed through their heads at once. Naruto started sweating and Sasuke decided to speak up.

"Those things are obviously flawed in some way," He said. "The dobe is obviously not a Kunoichi." Kabuto noticed the defensive tone in his voice and realized he'd just let slip something of a secret. He glanced at Naruto and smiled.

"Yeah. There must have been a mix up of some sort. Sorry. But I did say they weren't perfect," He laughed lightly releasing the card and putting it up. Several of the rookies released a breath they didn't know they were holding. "I'll have to fix that." Naruto looked at Sasuke gratefully. Kabuto took out the first card and put it back on the ground, putting his chakra into it. "Anyway," He started. "Outstanding genin have come here from the Sand, Rain, Sound and other villages. Most of them are like Naruto and Gaara, with such high level missions…" Naruto smirked at being described as 'High Level'. Sasuke held back a snort, however. The other two teams would have laughed at Naruto being described in such a way as well, if it had not been revealed to them that Team 7 had completed an A-ranked mission.

"Otogakure was created just last year, so there isn't much info, but…the other participants are all definitely talented people." He picked up his card and put it back into the deck. "Well then, it should start soon," He said. Right on cue, there was a mass Shunshin and a group of people appeared. Sasuke recognized two of them as older looking versions from the hall before. 'So that was a test of some sort…' in the center there was a man with two diagonal scars running up his face.

"Thank you for waiting," The scarred man started. "I am the examiner for the first test of the Chuunin Exams, Morino Ibiki." He waited for moment before starting again. "Now's a good time to tell you… There will be no fighting during the exam unless the examiner grants you permission. Even if permission is granted, killing will not be tolerated. The pigs that disobey me will be failed immediately. Do I make myself clear?" Silence greeted him until one of the Sound Nin spoke up.

"This exam is looking easy." The examiner smirked at that, but merely continued.

"The first test of the Chuunin Exam will now begin. Bring up your application, pick one of these tabs, and sit in your assigned seat. We will then hand out the exam problems."

"Problems?" Naruto asked aloud with narrowed eyes. The examiner that Sasuke identified as the bully that had done all the talking held up a stack of papers and smirked. She gawked. "A WRITTEN TEST?!"

-

Naruto glared down at her test. Other people were still sitting down, but it was only a matter of time before they had to begin.

'What the hell! Some of the people here are almost adults! Why are they making us take a written test?!'

"Girl." Naruto continued looking at her paper until she heard her name called. "U-zu-ma-ki." The person had drawn out each syllable in her name. She blinked and looked up to her side. Sitting there was none other than…

Sabaku no Gaara.

Naruto's eyes widened as she recognized the red haired boy. She frowned at him.

"What do you want?" She demanded with a glare, feeling rotten because of the test.

"…" Gaara looked away from her and down at his own test, his face indifferent. "When we fight, it will be bloody." He said nothing else and Naruto turned back down to look at her own test.

'Uh oh… I can't go looking like I'm worried in front of this guy!' She relaxed her pose and smirked. "Maybe." Gaara didn't react at all, and soon it was time for the test to begin. 'Man, it's a good thing I've got Sasuke to look at as a model.'

"There are many important rules to this first test," The examiner, Morino Ibiki, started. "Questions will not be allowed, so listen carefully." He tapped the board twice to get their attention. "The first rule is that you all start off with ten points. The test is made up of ten questions, each one worth a point. The test uses a subtraction system. Basically, if you answer all ten questions right, you keep all ten points. But if you missed three questions, you'd end with seven points."

'So ten wrong means zero points…' She looked down at her paper. 'But there's only nine questions here… that's weird…'

"The second rule: Whether you pass or not will be attributed to the combined scores of you and your teammates' tests." There was a banging noise and Naruto looked in the direction. Sakura's head had hit her desk.

"What?! Why are the test scores combined like that?!" Naruto sighed at that.

"Didn't they just say no questions?" she muttered. The boy next to her snorted and she glanced at him. His arms were crossed and he was still staring straight ahead.

"Shut up!" Ibiki yelled at the pink haired girl. "There is a reason for this. Wait and listen. Now the third rule is that, during the exam… anyone the test examiners catch doing sneaky things, like cheating, will have two points subtracted each time they're caught. So, during the exam, there will be some who lose all their points and be asked to leave."

'Wait a minute, wait a minute! That's weird!' Naruto thought, frowning. 'If you only lose two points when you're caught instead of being thrown out right away like usual, that's not much of a reason to not cheat.' "Are they trying to make us cheat or something?" She mumbled, looking down at her test. 'Nah, they're not that sneaky. They're just going easy on us for the first test, that's all.' "Hmm…"

"Realize that the pathetic ones getting caught cheating will be destroying themselves. We'll be checking on you guys." The bully with the thing on his nose spoke up again.

"As a shinobi participating in the Chuunin exams, act as a proud shinobi should. And the final rule, is that those that lose all of their points in the first test will fail."

"WHAT?!" Sakura's voice rang out again.

"Ne, Sakura-chan…you'll embarrass yourself," Naruto muttered. Just then, there were two killer intents directed pointedly at her. "W-what?"

"…And the final question will be handed out at the 45 minute mark. The exam will last one hour." Naruto looked at the clock; it read 3:29:56.

'Uh-oh…'

"Begin!"

-

'This is impossible for me,' Naruto realized ten minutes into the test as she stared down at the test. With Gaara sitting next to her, there was no room to look scared or defeated. She leaned back in her chair and folded her arms behind her head. 'I'll…just have to get the tenth question right… or something. But then…Sakura-chan and Sasuke will suffer if I don't get the tenth one right! Argh!' She frowned. 'I need to do something!' She frowned as she noticed Gaara start moving. He held his arm forward and some sand slipped out of his gourd, curling around his arm until it stopped in his hand. Once enough sand was there, an eyeball formed and started floating. She glanced at the other boy and noticed that his eyes were shut, then looked at the single eye with a smirk.

'He's cheating,' she thought as she watched the eye turn away from her and float away. 'But wait a minute… That's a weird way to cheat. I've got it! I can use a ninja technique to cheat somehow! But…what?' She quickly went over her known jutsu and frowned. 'The only helpful thing I can think of would be Henge or Kage Bunshin, but how would I use them? Kage Bunshin would be definitely noticeable… and so would Henge. Unless I use Oiroke no Jutsu, but that might mess up the whole test…Dammit, there's nothing I can do…'

-

Naruto glanced up at the clock again. It read 4:14:38.

'Damn, it's almost time for the last question!' She frowned and looked away from the clock, trying to look as unconcerned as possible. Gaara had finished, and was confused by the lack of answers on her test, but the confident outlook she had told him that she was holding something back.

"All right! It's time for the final question!" Ibiki called out. "But before that, there is one thing I must say. There will be one special rule for this question." Just then, the door opened and Kankuro walked in, followed by one of the examiners. "Ah. You're lucky, then… Your puppet show didn't have to go to waste." The sand nin glared at him before walking back to his desk. "Now, I will explain the last rule. This is… a hopeless rule. First, you all are going to decide if you want to take this question or not."

"Choose? What happens if we choose not to take it, then?" Temari asked.

"If you choose not to take it, your points will be reduced to zero. In short, failure. Your teammates fail too."

"What's the point of that? Of course we're going to take it!"

"Teammates failing too is bull!"

"And… there's one more rule. If you take it, and get it wrong…you will lose the right to take the Chuunin exams ever again!"

"What kind of rule is that?!" Kiba yelled out, pointing at him. "There should be people here who've taken the exam before!" Ibiki laughed it off, though.

"You guys were just unlucky. This year, it's my rules. That is why I gave you the option of quitting," He explained. "Those who are not confident can choose not to take it and can take it next time, or the time after that." He laughed again, and for many of the genin present, it was an unsettling laugh. There was a pause as he waited for them to process everything he'd just said. "Well then, let's start. Those who do not wish to take the tenth question, raise your hands! After we confirm your numbers, we will have you leave." There was another pause, then the other person sitting next to Naruto raised his hand.

"I… I'll quit!" He said. "I won't take this test!" Several more people started raising their hands, and soon the only people left were the ones willing to take the test.

"All right then," Ibiki said when it was apparent that no one else would be raising their hands. 'Seventy eight, students, huh… There's more than I thought left. Hmm. Maybe I was too soft on them.' "I'll ask you again. This is the question that will impact your life, whether or not you will ever amount to more than a genin."

"Hah," Naruto called out with false confidence. "Do your worst already!" Ibiki smiled at that as some of the other students started nodding and grunting their agreements.

'Looks like there's no point in waiting anymore.' He looked at each of the other examiners and they all nodded their assent.

"Nice determination. You all pass." He was met with dead silence and blank stares. Naruto's false smirk widened as it became real, and Gaara looked at her in amazement.

'She knew… the whole time. This girl… is gifted.'

---

"That was awesome!" Naruto yelled out as she pumped her fist in the air. "We're one step closer to being Chuunin!" They were leaving the academy building, and it was late afternoon.

"Yes, but now everyone is watching us," Sasuke said with a frown. "More importantly, they're watching you. Thanks to Kabuto-san, people think you're some kind of Jounin level ninja, or something similar."

"Hey-hey! It's not like that's totally false, or anything!" She grinned. "I am pretty great you know!" Sasuke rolled his eyes, but smirked. She was something, that was for sure.

"Hey, you two," Sakura said, quickly taking note of the atmosphere. "Why don't we have a celebratory dinner somewhere? I'll pay," She offered. Her friends both looked at her and nodded.

"Yeah! That's a great idea, Sakura-chan! But you don't have to pay for me! Or Sasuke either! Right, Teme?" Sasuke nodded.

"Naruto is right. That much won't be necessary." He frowned. "But I must insist we go somewhere where they have food other than Gourmet Ramen."

"Whaaaaaaaaaat? But you love Ichiraku's! You had a third bowl, and you even took it home!" Sasuke looked away, ignoring her.

"I'm sure there's other celebrations going on somewhere. Let's see if we can join in on one. It might be cheaper," Sasuke suggested.

"Oh yeah!" Naruto shouted. "I'm sure they're having some kind of party at that place Chouji always eats at." Sakura frowned.

"You mean that Yakiniku place?" she asked.

"Yeah! BBQ, here we come!"

"But Naruto," Sakura started. "That's not exactly healthy for you…"

"Neither is Ramen, but Naruto lives and breathes in it," Sasuke said with a frown.

"Well yes, but… I was more worried about me. I have a figure to keep, you know." Sasuke blinked and smirked at Naruto.

"You hear that, Naruto? It's unhealthy and makes you pudgy. You sure you want to do that?"

"Well yeah," Naruto said, not quite getting him. Sasuke just shook his head as the meaning was lost on her.

'She just doesn't get it at all, does she?' He sighed and looked away. "Well, I'm up for BBQ. I rarely eat it." He looked at Sakura. "The Yamanaka girl is on fatso's team, so I'm sure she must have found a way to cope with his choice of food."

"Well… All right," Sakura frowned. "I guess we can go…"

-

As they had guessed, there was already a mild celebration going on at the restaurant. It was a pretty casual place, so no one else seemed to mind. Teams Eight and Ten were already present.

"Ah! So you guys got the same idea?" Kiba asked as he spotted them. "Come on! We're havin' a great time!" He said. They walked over to where the other two teams were sitting and blinked as they took in the sight. Hinata was speed eating against Chouji. It was very… surreal.

"Eh? What happened?" Naruto asked in complete confusion. Her teammates were just watching the scene with gaping jaws. "Why is Hinata-chan…"

"Well you see," Kiba said. "Chouji challenged me to a contest," He said, motioning the two competitors. "But I couldn't accept it because I'd already eaten. I noticed that Shino and Hinata-chan hadn't touched the food, so I asked if one of them could take my place. Shino just looked at me, and Hinata was kind of apprehensive at first, but I managed to convince her,"

"You mean you goaded her," Sakura said, watching the other girl eat 'against' the Akimichi.

"Well…yeah," Kiba said, laughing nervously.

"But man… I never knew Hinata-chan could eat so much…" Kiba laughed at their shell-shocked expressions. Apparently, it wasn't the first time he'd seen her do that.

"It's okay! She'll be fine! Sit down, sit down!" He said, motioning some free space on the soft cushion that surrounded the table. They managed to squeeze in and Sakura noticed, against all belief, that Chouji seemed to be slowing down. Sakura tried her hardest to ignore the disgusting sounds that came from the smallest and largest members of the rookie nine. Chouji finally belched and sat back, apparently full.

"That's it… no more…" He groaned in defeat.

"Dammit, you idiot," Shikamaru sighed. Ino was practically fuming. Sasuke looked at Kiba and the dog user explained.

"There was a bet involved. Loser foots the entire bill." He said merrily. Hinata's frenzy slowed down and she burped as well, albeit a bit more cutely. Chouji looked at her in awe.

"How… how did you do that?" He dared to ask.

"Ano, the Hyuuga clan has a technique for turning food into chakra as soon as it's eaten, but the side effects are chakra overload, which causes us to be incredibly energetic, but if I train really hard later on I'll be fine, so don't worry." She smiled politely and bowed several times. "Thank you for the food, it was wonderful, I really enjoyed it, thank you again." Everyone but Shino and Kiba stared at her in shock.

"That's… the most she's ever spoken…ever…" Naruto whispered. Sasuke activated his Sharingan, just in case. All he saw was a large amount of muscle spasms and twitching going on that indicated that she was restless. He deactivated them shook his head in disbelief.

"That was definitely unexpected." He looked at Sakura and smirked. "But now it looks like we don't have to worry about the dinner bill."

"Yeah!" Naruto looked at her teammate. "Aren't you glad we came here now?"

-

Happy and full, the three genin that made up Team 7 cheerily walked through the throngs of other genin. Naruto became confused by the numbers of genin there and looked around in confusion after stopping in the road. Her two teammates sensed her distress and asked promptly her what was wrong.

"What're all these other people doin up so late?" She asked confusedly. And it was late – the little celebration with the other two rookie teams had lasted nearly three hours. All of them had at that point had some amount of sake in them – the proprietor hadn't been one to deny genin who were close to achieving chuunin rank their rights, as they were all legally considered adults after all. Naruto hadn't liked it, and Sasuke only had enough to give him a slight buzz. Sakura hadn't like it either, and had even less than Naruto. Sasuke looked around as if noticing the huge groups of other ninja moving about that night for the first time.

"They're probably seeing the sights before they head home," Sakura commented helpfully. "Most of the people we see are going to be going home tomorrow. A lot of people didn't pass the first test," She said.

"And we, a bunch of rookies, did," Sasuke smirked as he looked down on most of the ninja around them.

"Not only that, but we have tons of respect now thanks to Kabuto-san," Sakura said. "It's too bad we didn't catch him at the end- we could have invited him to the party. He passed too."

"He did?" Naruto asked, happy. Sakura nodded.

"He was sitting next to me. He knew all the answers without cheating, too. But so did I, so…" Sakura shrugged. "I was impressed, but that's what you get for being a genin for four years. The guy next to us was caught cheating five times ten minutes into the test, it was horrible." Naruto snickered.

"That Gaara guy cheated too. He made an eyeball out of sand and used it to copy other peoples answers," She said. Sasuke nodded.

"I used the Sharingan to copy someone who looked like they were going through a practiced routine. I had figured out the real reason behind the test when they said we wouldn't be thrown out right away for cheating." Sakura and Naruto looked on thoughtfully. Ibiki had explained the point of the test to them was to gather information without getting caught, but Sasuke had figured it out on his own and used that knowledge to do what was needed.

"That's cool…I wonder if he'll help us in the next round." Naruto said, changing the subject back to Kabuto and away from Sasuke.

"Probably not. The way that woman spoke, there will be competition this time around," Sasuke said. "Cutting the teams in half? There's twenty-six left. That means that at most thirteen teams will pass tomorrow. Probably, there will be something that involves us being forced to defeat at least one team to get through." He said thoughtfully.

"Huh," Naruto grunted, not liking the way that Sasuke was coming to conclusions she couldn't even begin to grasp. Did he always have to show off like that? Sakura glanced at her and seemed to notice her discomfort. Deciding to end the night on a good note, she spoke up.

"Well, that's good enough for tonight," Sakura said. "I'm gonna go home. I'll see you two tomorrow, okay?"

"Yeah? Okay," Naruto nodded. "I'll go home too. There's not much else to do as late as it is." Sakura nodded and turned around.

"I'll walk you home. It's on the way," Sasuke offered. Sakura turned back around, giddily, only to see him looking at Naruto. She blinked and frowned when Naruto looked at him suspiciously.

"No thanks. I'll be fine on my own," She said offhandedly.

"I insist," Sasuke said with a frown.

"And I said no," Naruto snapped, folding her arms.

"Guys, guys!" Sakura said, waving her hands. "How about we both walk you home, Naruto-kun?" She asked. Sasuke and Naruto stared at her, clearly taken aback by the usage of an honorific from Sakura. Naruto was the first to recover.

"But Sakura-chan, you don't live near m-"

"It's all right, no worries," Sakura said. 'Man, getting these two to try and be friends is like mixing oil and water. Men!' She shook her head. "It's not so offensive for you if I'm there, is it?" She asked Naruto. Naruto nodded her acceptance, but Sasuke just frowned and shook his head.

"Forget it. If Sakura is going, then I'll just go home." He turned around, stuffed his hands in his pockets and stalked off, angrily.

"Sasuke-kun! Wait!"

"Oi! Teme!" Naruto yelled out angrily. Sasuke didn't respond, and kept going.

'Why did such a fine night have to end so horribly?' Sakura thought, quivering. Naruto glanced at Sakura and scowled in Sasuke's direction. She leapt at her teammate angrily. "You BASTARD! She said WAIT!" She yelled as she tackled him. Sakura paled and ran over to them as the crowd around them split up. It wasn't long before Sasuke threw a punch at Naruto, who wouldn't get off of him, and she retaliated. Sakura watched, dismayed as her teammates started brawling in front of the all of the other people. She looked around worriedly and suddenly came up with an idea.

"They're drunk!" She said suddenly. The message she'd wanted to get across was 'They're not usually like this!' Some of the older genin snorted with laughter at that, and Sakura turned helplessly to watch her friends as they tried to kill each other. She clutched her face and tried not to cry, when she suddenly felt a gentle hand on her shoulder. She looked up into the kindly face of someone she didn't expect to meet up with again before the next day; Yakushi Kabuto. He gave her a reassuring smile, and then re-positioned his glasses on his face with his free hand.

Kabuto let go of her shoulder, and calmly approached the duo. There was a movement where his hands blurred, and both genin fell to the ground, completely frozen. He knelt down to them and spoke in the same nice voice he'd used before when dealing with them.

"Yare yare, it seems I can not leave the younger of Konoha's genin to themselves these days," He said. "You two ought to be ashamed of yourselves. Acting like this in front of all of these foreigners? In a stricter place, like say, Kirigakure, you might be withdrawn from the Chuunin Senbatsu Shiken, and even demoted back to academy students for this. Or perhaps something even far worse." The nearby torchlight reflected off his glasses in an ominous way, and for some reason both of the younger genin gulped. Despite his kindly face, Kabuto seemed to be, at that moment, capable of the 'Something far worse' that he'd mentioned. "I would tell your Jounin sensei about this if I wasn't sure that your downright shame and embarrassment were punishment enough," He said.

"You don't have to tell me," came a familiar, _angry_ voice from the crowds. Kakashi soon pushed his way through the crowd and quickly made his way to the two genin, standing behind Kabuto. "I already know."

"Ah, Hatake-san," 'That was certainly quick.' Kabuto acknowledged the older man and smiled back at the genin. "I suppose I can leave them in your capable hands, then, yes?" He asked, standing up. The angry Jounin merely nodded, his one eyed gaze never leaving his two students. The silver-haired genin stood back and inconspicuously left the scene.

'That was very informative,' He thought. 'Orochimaru-sama will want to know that Sasuke-kun doesn't quite get along with his teammates.' He smirked in a suggestive way as he continued on his way to a place where he could contact the Hebi-Sannin.

Kakashi was livid. His aura was tinged with more than a little bit of killing intent, and those nearby who did not personally know the man wisely drew back.

"Sakura. Go home." He said simply. She looked at him, and frowned, ready to argue. "I know you care about your friends, but there is something personal between us that we must discuss." She opened her mouth, still intending to protest, and he shot her a look. The intensity of the look caused her to reconsider her options.

"Guys… I'm sorry…" She said as she turned around and ran off.

"Wait- Sakura-chan—" Naruto called out weakly through her paralysis. The fact that the sound didn't go very far at all, and she was sure the only people to have heard it were Sasuke and Kakashi, made her angrier. "Dammit…" Kakashi roughly grabbed them by the scruffs of their shirts and held them each over one shoulder, before leaping away.

Soon, they were all in front of the training logs at Training Area 7.

Kakashi roughly threw them down in front of the logs. He stepped back and glared down at them.

"I thought I taught the both of you the meaning and value of teamwork. I guess I was wrong." He turned away from them, not willing to look at them any longer. "You two… do you realize what you have done? You have just shown everyone outside of Konoha how we operate. Our agents, our Shinobi are all mindless children who fight each other over trivial things."

"But we passed the first test," Naruto said quietly. Kakashi whipped around and glared at her.

"You shut up now. I am talking. You are not." The two genin suddenly realized that Kakashi was angrier than he'd ever been.

"We were just fighting-" Naruto tried again. "Come on Kakashi-sens—" She stopped as Kakashi's face was suddenly uncomfortably close to her own. There was a great deal of killing intent in his single visible eye and it affected her greatly. She squealed and tried to move back into the log that she had been thrown at. Sasuke saw this and got a great deal of amusement out of it.

"Great going, do—" Sasuke didn't have time to finish that as Kakashi was just as suddenly in his face. But he was prepared, unlike Naruto, and his own eyes narrowed in defiant challenge to the older man. Kakashi had time and patience that came with being experienced and older, however, something that the young Uchiha wasn't quite able to match him in. After a while of their staring contest, Sasuke nervously looked away. Kakashi drew back and glared at his two subordinates.

"Team Seven is not going to be in the exam tomorrow," Kakashi said finally.

"What?!" Naruto asked, a little louder than before. "You can't… you can't do that!" She yelled.

"I can and I have," Kakashi sighed. How had things fallen apart so quickly between the two? They had been almost like brother and sister upon leaving Wave Country. "You two…" He sounded old and defeated, and both of the pre-teens looked at him regretfully. "How can you do this? Do you even remember what led up to the fight?" He asked. They both visibly strained and he shook his head.

"Well Sakura-chan was about to cry because he was ignoring us," Naruto said suddenly.

"He was ignoring you so you decided to beat the hell out of him," Kakashi said, sounding as if he couldn't believe it. Naturally, he _could _– it was a very Naruto thing to do. Kakashi looked at Sasuke. The other young man didn't seem to have an answer prepared right away. He was silent and Kakashi narrowed his one eye at him.

"Is there something you want to say, Sasuke?"

"I…" Sasuke seemed to be having trouble on what he was going to say. Kakashi raised a brow – the young Uchiha was not known for being caught a loss for words.

"How did it start?" Kakashi asked, interested, yet still incredibly upset.

"I offered to walk her home," Sasuke started quickly, now knowing what to say. "She said no, but I insisted, and she said no again. Sakura offered to join us, but I didn't want Sakura to be there." He said.

"Why?" Naruto asked. Kakashi decided to let them work through it on their own and watched with his arms crossed.

"I didn't want her to be around."

"Why not?" Naruto asked, frowning.

"Well first…" Sasuke muttered too low for them to hear.

"Huh?"

"I wanted to say you had a good idea and I had fun," He mumbled. Naruto gawked at the boy and Kakashi drew back as if he'd been slapped. Sasuke glared at him for a few seconds before changing his tone of voice. "And also, I wanted to ask you," He said more seriously. "How long you planned on keeping the Kyuubi a secret from everyone."

---

Sakura was almost sobbing as she walked into her home. She shut the door behind herself and almost immediately collapsed to her knees.

"Sakura-chan?" came a concerned voice from above. She looked up and saw her mother standing in front of her. "Sakura-chan, what happened? Why are you like this?!"

"It's my friends," Sakura managed to choke out. "They're- they're always fighting each other," Sakura's mother looked at her sadly as her husband quickly came in.

"I heard crying," He said with concern in his voice. "Is she hurt?"

"No," Sakura's mother said. "It's about those teammates of hers," she said bitterly.

"You mean that good-for-nothing demon-kid and the crazy boy?" Her husband asked rather tactlessly. The woman sighed exasperatedly.

"That's not a very nice way to describe them," her mother scolded lightly. Her husband snorted and waved it aside.

"They can't be very nice either, seeing as how they've made my only daughter cry like this," He walked over to Sakura and knelt down to the girl's smaller form. He put a calming hand on her back and rubbed her gingerly, trying to get her to calm down. "Come on, calm down. It's going to be okay," He said. "Your mom and dad love you." Sakura's sobbing trickled to a stop as he spoke the seemingly magic words that always seemed to work when she was like this. "You can tell us what happened tomorrow. For now, go to bed and rest," He said when she finally did stop. She nodded and gave him a hug, as her body shook with a few more noiseless sobs and whimpers. "You do still have that ninja exam tomorrow, right?"

"I don't know," She said. "Kakashi-sensei seemed really angry when he found out,"

"Now don't worry, I'm sure he's a man of reason. He wouldn't make you drop out right now because of this when you've already gotten so far, would he?" her mother said, reassuringly.

"I guess not," Sakura said, finally calmed down enough. "I'll… I'll go to bed… I'm sorry I bothered you like this," She tapered off to a whisper, but was met with steady denials.

"You're not bothering anyone, sweetie," He father said as he bent over and kissed her head. Sakura giggled lightly – it always tickled when he did that. "Come on, let's go upstairs to your room and get you ready for tomorrow, okay?" He said. Both of her parents followed her up to her room, to make sure nothing else happened.

---

Naruto paled and Kakashi stood up straight faster than he'd recoiled.

"Who told you about it?" Kakashi demanded. If someone had broken the Hokage's law, there was hell to be had!

"No one," Sasuke answered simply. "The Nara and I figured it out. We did some extensive research and-"

"Dammit, Sasuke!" Naruto shouted. "I told you not to keep poking in my life!"

"Why?" Sasuke demanded. "Because you were afraid?" He snapped. Naruto froze up, still angry, but unable to refute his accusation. "I thought so. Naruto, huh…" He growled and turned to glare at his blonde teammate. "Do you really think… That I'm so shallow that I would change my opinion of you because of that? Shikamaru seemed disappointed in you too, actually." Kakashi regarded him in a new light, as the fact that he didn't seem to be affected by the Kyuubi being in Naruto made him raise several points in his book. "I can understand why the older generation treats you like garbage, what with the Kyuubi… but if you think that I, or any of the other rookies would hate you because of that, you're stupider than I thought," He sneered.

'I see,' Kakashi thought. 'Sasuke has been feeling angry and insulted for a while because of her doubting his depth of character. It must have been building up for a while, and peaked tonight. Maybe with this confrontation, things will calm down between the two. Hopefully improve.' His anger had lessened greatly by this point. They may have been fighting, but Sasuke was proving to be a better friend than they'd all thought because he was taking Naruto in such a serious way.

"But…but I thought-"

"Thought what? That you-"

"Let me finish!" She roared. "I thought you all hated me!" Kakashi briefly considered getting out his copy of Icha Icha paradise and waiting the pre-teen angst out, but decided it was too good of a show. "I thought you were all going to start acting like the adults were!"

"Shows what you know," Sasuke snorted, looking away. "None of us were around for Kyuubi's attack. Even if it was devastating, we'd have to be incredibly shallow to hate you for something that someone else, a demon no less, did, that we didn't even experience."

"Most people are," Kakashi said suddenly, deciding to interject. "They can't think beyond the Kyuubi's shadow, and when they look at Naruto, it's all they ever see. Even some of the ninja were like that," He continued. "Especially the ones bearing the scars of battle with that monster. Those who'd lost limbs, or had their careers ended in various other permanent ways wanted Naruto to die. They didn't understand that it would only let the Kyuubi escape if they destroyed the seal so soon. It was only thanks to the Hokage's insight that we avoided setting it free again." Naruto looked up at her sensei in horror. "He had several ANBU guarding her at all times. I usually volunteered for the position, until I stepped down from my position as ANBU."

"But…but why?"

"Sensei would have been upset if I let you die or anything like that," Kakashi said offhandedly. "I wasn't allowed to interfere with your personal life, but if I could have I'd have been your surrogate brother. The reason I couldn't interfere with that was because the Hokage's law said that you should be treated like all other orphans, and even though I honestly thought it was a stupid rule, which we all know should be broken, the Hokage thought I would only impede your mental growth." Sasuke seemed to understand the Hokage's decision, but Naruto was incensed.

"I still don't understand," She said angrily. "If I could have grown up away from all of that stuff, I wouldn't… I wouldn't have—"

"Made such great Hokage material," Sasuke said. Kakashi looked at him appraisingly and Naruto stared at him. "It's because you can understand true pain that you'd make a great Hokage some day. You'd be sympathetic for those who suffered, yet strong enough to be a good leader, and your experience would give you an edge over any other candidates. Just like Sandaime-sama. He's an old man, and he's probably planning on making you his second successor…" '…now that he's made you his clone.' Sasuke added the last part mentally, not wanting to anger Naruto further. 'Sneaky old man…' Naruto's jaw dropped and she looked from one Shinobi to the next, shocked.

"But… wait, if all of the people hate me, why would they follow me as a Hokage?"

"They would have to," Sasuke said.

"But it could lead to rebellion or something, right?" She said, surprising both Kakashi and Sasuke.

"Regardless," Kakashi said. "They would have hated you anyway. Either you could have grown up the way you are, or you could have grown up sheltered. I was the only person willing to take you in – The Hokage was just too busy with his position, and it was only because of that position he was able to keep you alive."

"There must have been an easier way to do it…"

"He was a desperate old man who had taken the office right after his previous successor died. The stress had to be great. He did manage to save your life," Kakashi pointed out.

"If you had grown up outside of Konoha, you wouldn't feel about it the way you do. It wouldn't be 'home'," Sasuke reasoned.

"And if you had grown up under his or my care, you still would have been hated, and neither of us would have been able to spare you that much time. It wouldn't have been much different, unfortunately. We're ninja, we didn't have time to play babysitter to an orphan," Kakashi said, with a hint of regret in his voice. "If he hadn't chosen to be Hokage, someone else would have been elected in his place and you might have been executed without hesitation." Naruto turned pale at that and realized how much the old man staked on her becoming a successful ninja.

'And I've… I've let him down tonight…' She thought sadly. Kakashi noticed her sudden change in demeanor and decided that she had finally realized the extent of her actions.

"Don't forget why you two are here. That was really stupid of you. Both of you." Kakashi said, looking pointedly at Sasuke. "You can just go when that other guy's paralysis wears off. I want you both to reflect on your actions and the repercussions they will have for Konoha." He vanished in a puff of smoke, leaving both genin alone.

---

"We've got to tell her about that teammate of hers," Sakura's father stated rather abruptly as soon as they were sure their daughter was asleep. They were both standing directly on the other side of Sakura's door.

"But… The Hokage's law—"

"Forget the Hokage's law," Her husband bit out. "She's in constant danger when she's around that other girl!"

"Osamu!" Her mother whispered in a scandalized voice. "Keep your voice down! Sakura-chan just went to sleep!" Sakura, however, had woken back up already, and was intently listening in on the conversation. 'Other girl? Who are they talking about? Ino?'

"Calm down, Kazue," Her father said. "She's a Genin, not ANBU. They're not that good yet," He joked. Sakura huffed indignantly at her father's lack of faith in her skills.

"Osamu…" Her mother groaned. "But still. We can't exactly go breaking the Hokage's law… It's punishable by death," Their voices were fading away and Sakura realized they were leaving her door. Her interest piqued in a law that could lead to capital punishment her father was willing to break, she quietly got up out of bed and walked across the dark room, putting her ear to the gap at the floor.

"…n't care, as long as the Kyuubi brat is on her team, she'll never be safe."

"I care as much as you do, but we can't go telling Sakura-chan that the Kyuubi is sealed in her teammate," Sakura froze as she heard that.

"She thinks Naruto is a boy anyway. She doesn't really seem to care about her."

"Not too many people actually know about that… But, she has been talking about her more often, almost like she respects her. I won't crush that so soon," her mother said.

"Respect? You saw what happened tonight. If there are going to be more nights like this where we hear the kyuubi-kid got into a fight with that revenge-crazed maniac and could end up hurting our daughter, then I've had enough already," Her father said in a defeated tone. "What happened to the days where Sakura-chan would come home with perfect scores on a report or test or something? Doesn't anyone value that? Our daughter, our perfect daughter is being pushed aside for those two… monsters," He said bitterly. "And she's suffering for it! I won't have this. I won't!"

"Calm down, you," Her mother said. "Maybe you should take a nap too," the woman muttered.

"Now's not the time," Her father grumbled. "I'm honestly concerned about…" Sakura slowly sat up, not wanting to hear any more. She simply stood up and turned away from the door, walking back to her bed and crawled in, shaking.

---

Sasuke glared at the blonde girl lying against the log to his side. The paralysis was slowly but surely wearing off, and most of their bodily functions were returning to normal. Sasuke could feel slight sensation everywhere in his body, but he was still somewhat numb. That would have made it a bit easier to sleep, and he would have been, if not for the blonde girl not two meters away sawing logs as loud as possible. His eye ticked and he fought the urge to turn his head away from the beast. Although it was rather repulsive to see and hear the girl in that state, he could not turn away. Something about it… entranced him. He started to feel a little disturbed once he realized that and finally did turn away.

'She will be hearing about this when she wakes up. Oh yes she will.'

---

Hours later, after the sun had risen and was far into the sky, Naruto found her eyes slowly opening. She yawned and rubbed her eyes, slowly sitting up. Her muscles were stiff and a little painful from having slept oddly in a semi-sitting position, but she could deal with that – she'd woken up feeling worse during the mission to wave country. Once she was able to see clearly, she focused on the previous night and how she had ended up in that position in the first place. She remembered the party, then the fight with Sasuke, then the reconciliation, and finally Kakashi leaving them to sleep outside as a final punishment or something. Maybe he was just too lazy to take them to their own homes.

She slowly turned her head around to face the Uchiha prodigy and saw that even in sleep, he was frowning. Naruto took the time to truly observe the boy for the first time in a long while. He was lean and muscular – more so than she was, yet his skin was paler by far. His clothes were dirty from being outside in the elements, and she was sure that if she had looked down at herself, she would be too. Naruto supposed his face was sort of handsome, and if it wasn't for the frown that he might have been charming, but such could be said for lots of boy's she'd seen. And Sasuke was just that – a boy, and a conceited jerk of a one at that. She really didn't understand what her peers ever saw in him.

It was then that his eyes shot open, revealing the Sharingan. But he blinked and his eyes were back to their normal black. Naruto stared at him in surprise for a few seconds, and he started to get annoyed by it.

"What are you looking at?" He snapped. Naruto frowned. "There's nothing to see here."

"I see a conceited bastard," She snapped just as venomously. "Did you have a nightmare or something? You looked spooked when you woke up," she said, putting a sneer in her voice.

"You were the one looking like she might soil herself, as I recall," Sasuke scoffed. Naruto glared at him for a few moments, and he returned it with equal intensity.

After a few moments, both of them smirked.

"Sasuke…" Naruto started. "I…thanks."

"For what?" Sasuke asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Last night… I started that fight with you, but you were only upset because I was trying to hide stuff from you,"

"That wasn't only it," Sasuke said. "You were insulting my character," He frowned. "But it's not like it matters." He looked away, feigning disinterest.

"I'm sorry," She said, trying to sound like she didn't really mean it. Sasuke closed his eyes for a moment and then stood up, stretching.

"We've got to go," He said. "We still have this test today. We've got to find out where we're going and what we're doing, then prepare." Naruto nodded and jumped to her feet.

"Yeah! Let's go!" She yelled and took off in a random direction. Sasuke smirked and shook his head.

"What an overexcited idiot," He sighed.

-

Sakura looked up at her Jounin sensei as she waited for her two teammates. They were in a café, and the Jounin was reading his usual choice of literature while she looked around. The dream she'd had the previous night had been odd – that her parents would know something about Naruto like that? And that the only reason they'd never told her anything was because it was illegal was downright silly. What kind of law made telling someone so life-altering like that illegal? It was so ridiculous that when she woke up, she'd been ashamed of herself for having thought it might have been real for even a minute. Sure, it felt real, and it wasn't like most dreams, but she'd had dreams like that before. Dreams where she'd wake up and hear her parents talking about things only Ninja should know…

Really now, her parents were both incredibly simple people, neither exceedingly rich nor exceedingly poor. For them to have ever been ninja would have been… impossible. She just couldn't see it. They were as un-ninja like as one could be. Just… too impossibly… harmless… She shook her head as if to clear her thoughts, and this caught Kakashi's attention.

"Is something wrong?" He asked.

"Ano…sensei," She started. "After last night, are we really still going to be in the exam?"

"Yeah," He said. "Those two worked out their differences last night. It was something that had been building up a long time for Sasuke, and his behavior last night only triggered the inevitable."

"Really," She asked, visibly relieved. "So then, what are we going to be doing?"

"You'll see." She sighed at that. And for a while, there was silence between them as they both waited – Sakura looking around and taking in the foreigners, most of whom had left already, and Kakashi reading his little orange book. After a few more minutes, Sakura looked at her Jounin-sensei again, but didn't bother saying anything.

'This is crazy,' She thought. 'I can't say this…'

"What is it, Sakura?"

"I had a dream last night," She blurted out.

"Well that's nice," He went back to reading his book. "I had a dream last night too."

"My dream was weird though," She said. "I dreamt that Naruto was a girl." Kakashi's one eye regarded her a bit more seriously.

"Really?" he asked, sounding interested. "So did I." She frowned at him and sighed.

"I'm serious," she whined. He looked at her, mock disbelief.

"So am I. Isn't that weird?" And it was the truth – he'd dreamed last night that all of team seven had made chuunin, and that they were all finally starting to act like a team should. Naruto _was_ a girl in the dream. She was a girl in real life too, though, so for him it wasn't all that weird for Naruto to be a girl in a dream.

"I give up," she sighed and put her head down on the table. Kakashi wasn't going to take her seriously after all. And why should he? That Naruto was a girl was one of the most ridiculous notions ever. The door opened noisily and she looked up, noticing both of her teammates. They were arguing as they walked in and joined them at the table, and ordered water when they sat down.

"Sakura-chan, Kakashi-sensei! How's it goin?" the blonde asked in her usual loud voice.

"What's going on here?"

"The lumberjack here was going at it like a man possessed last night," Sasuke growled.

"You seem much better than you were last night," Kakashi noted with a smirk.

"Oh yeah! Sasuke said he 'wuz sorry, and I forgave him, end of story!" She grinned and Sasuke snorted, but didn't refute her, even though it had been the other way around.

"Is that right?" Kakashi asked, knowing that it was probably the opposite.

"Yeah! So, sensei, what is it we're going to be doing today?"

"Survival test," He shrugged. "I think she might have told you… Training Area 44? Anyway, I'll be showing you where it is. I can't tell you about the test in detail because you can't be prepared for it. I'll tell you now though that you should eat something before we go, though."

"Really?" Sakura asked. Hmm, a survival test that they should eat before they do? "So is that why you decided to take us here?" She asked. Their Jounin sensei had never taken them out to a place like this for food before.

"Actually, yes. This may be the last time I see you guys, you know," He said. They all looked at him for a moment before they decided he was joking, even though he looked and sounded serious.

-

"So this is the place?" Naruto asked. She whistled as she looked as deep as she could into the forest. It was dark and she couldn't see beyond the first few trees at all.

"Apparently," Sasuke said. "We saw those other genin teams waiting around. What else could it be?"

"I dunno," Naruto shrugged. "Something else?"

"Right," Sasuke sighed. The three turned from what they were doing and walked over to join the rest of the Genin teams. The female examiner from the day before was there, lounging around and waiting. Soon, the last genin team arrived and she smirked as she looked over them, and started talking.

"Before we begin the second exam, I'm going to pass these out to everyone," She reached into her trench coat and pulled out a stack of papers. "These are consent forms. Those taking the exam must sign these."

"Why?" Naruto inquired. Anko smiled at the blonde haired genin and continued.

"Well, from here on, people are gonna die," she looked around over all the genin present. "So you have to sign these before you continue. Otherwise, I'd be held responsible!" She laughed at that, as if being held responsible was the more important than their impending doom. Naruto and some of the other, less mentally prepared genin gaped at her in disbelief.

"Now, I will begin the explanation of the second exam. To be brief, you will all go through an extreme survival match." She handed out the consent forms, and Naruto, who was the closest, grabbed one, and passed it to a familiar silver haired genin. She blinked owlishly at the be-spectacled ninja, who waved back with a smile and continued passing the forms on. The examiner pulled out a scroll and unrolled it, showing a map. "I'll explain the terrain you're gonna be in. The 44th training area is a circular enclosure surrounded by 44 locked gates. There's a river, a forest, and a tower in the middle. The center is approximately 10km from the gates. Inside this limited area, you will have to participate in a certain survival program."

"The program consists of a competition where anything goes…" She paused and reached into her trench coat again, putting the map away and revealing two different colored scrolls. "…Over these scrolls." She held them out and continued. "The scroll of heaven and the scroll of earth. 26 teams in total passed the first exam. Half of those teams will get the scroll of heaven. The other half will get an earth scroll." She held up the scrolls for all to see. "Each team will get one of these scrolls. You have to fight over them."

"And? What's needed to pass?" Sasuke inquired.

"Bring one of each scroll to the tower with both of your teammates."

"In other words, the 13 teams, or half the people here, who get their scroll stolen, will fail." Sakura said as she and Sasuke walked over to join Naruto.

"But there is a time limit of 120 hours," the woman said, putting the scrolls away, "Or five days."

"Five days?!" Naruto looked over and noticed Chouji with a look of absolute horror on his face. "What about food?!"

"There's tons of food in there. Scrounge it up yourselves!"

"There are a lot of man-eating beasts, poisonous insects, and poisonous plants too," Kabuto said helpfully.

-

"Man, that sure took forever," Naruto sighed as she waited in front of the gate with Sasuke and Sakura. "It should be starting soon, right?"

"Yes, Naruto," Sakura said exasperatedly. "How many hundreds of times are you going to ask that question?"

"I'm not," Naruto said defensively as their proctor unlocked the gates and then looked at his watch. He took a few steps to the side and held up a hand. When it fell down, the doors automatically opened and team seven shot through it light a bullet. "All right! Watch out other teams, here comes Uzumaki Naruto!"

----


	5. Chapter 5

I apologize for the delay. Originally, I had meant to update this story regularly. You can all see how that worked out by checking the dates between publish and update.

Unfortunately for all of us, I had school and stuff. You know how that goes. I _do_ intend to update as much as possible, and I even have a bit of the next chapter written already.

As for disclaimers, all of what I said in Chapter 1 and etc applies here too, and from here on out, so that I don't have to keep writing that bit over and over. It sort of interrupts the flow of the story, y'know?

---

Team Seven flew through the tree tops of area 44 with wild abandon. Sakura lingered in the back and watched her teammates enviously as she began to feel tired. They had only been going at top speed for five minutes, and her legs were already feeling like they would fall off. The girl pushed herself, however, gritting her teeth from pain each time they leapt from one tree branch to another. Naruto turned around to look at her.

"You okay back there, Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked.

"I'm just fine," the girl grunted.

"Maybe we should take a break," Sasuke offered.

"Yeah, I'm getting hungry," Naruto agreed. The two slowed down to a stop, and Sakura with them.

"Why'd we stop?" the pink haired girl demanded. "We were making good time."

"Not really, just getting to the tower isn't going to help us," Sasuke said. "We need to fight another group, remember?"

"That's right, how are we gonna do that?" Naruto asked.

"Well, other teams are probably laying out different kinds of traps right now, ambushing people or just plain out fighting them. We have five days to get there, and only ten kilometers between the tower and the outside at any point in this forest. We can afford to rest right here."

"Fine," The pink haired child said heatedly as she fell down to the grass. "We can take a break."

"Cool!" The hyper-active ninja looked around excitedly. "So which one of you thought ahead to bring some snacks?" She asked. Sasuke ignored her completely while Sakura turned her entire head to look at her. "Well? Well?"

"…Even if I had, I wouldn't share with _you_," Sakura snorted.

"Awww, don't be that way, Sakura-chan!"

"We'll have to find our food then, like they said." Sasuke said before they could go off on a tangent. "Let's not get separated, either. It's possible that someone may use an illusion and then ambush us when we think we're safe."

"Oh, you're right," Naruto said with a rare thoughtful look on her face. They all looked at each other warily for a moment, before breaking out in a shared grin. Sasuke's face lit up in realization soon afterwards, however, causing the other two to look at him.

"That's right…" Sasuke looked up at Naruto. "You can use the Kage Bunshin and Henge pretty well. Maybe we can do that to other people."

"Huh?" the blonde girl asked, not sure what he meant.

"Yeah!" Naruto looked at Sakura that time. "That's right! Say, Naruto, how many Kage Bunshin can you make at once? Maybe we can use them as scouts or something, too."

"Use them as scouts?" Naruto asked, then closed her eyes and crossed her eyes as she tried to figure that out. "But how would they get information back to us?"

"Silly, you would know your own clones, wouldn't you?" Sakura asked. "If you made teams of clones that looked like Team Seven, and then sent them around, they could do a lot of things for us. For one, since the clones all know where we are, they would be able to find us no problem to deliver information. Second, they could distract other teams into thinking they're fighting the real us, for a real scroll."

"Hey…" Naruto's eyes opened. "You're right, but what if they get killed?"

"Then…" Sakura faltered at that part. "Well… Hmm…" Sasuke stared at Naruto for a moment.

'How would the Kage Bunshin being killed be a bad thing? You'd learn from that, wouldn't you?' Chalking it off to something else, He decided to point out something else. "There's also the fact that any group that figures out what's going on could watch the clones, and then henge into us, and find us completely off guard." The only real boy in the group informed them.

"Perhaps we should make a password then, or something similar," Sakura suggested. "If they know the password, then they'll definitely be the real clones."

"That's right," Sasuke nodded. "We should also make one for if we get separated, and have to find each other." Naruto and Sakura looked over at him, waiting. "Naruto, you should pick your own password and keep it to yourself. Since they're your clones, they'll all know the password, and you'll be able to tell the difference that way." The blonde girl nodded at that.

"As for our team, the password…" Both girls started paying more attention to him as the black haired boy's eyes roved around the clearance in concentration. His eyes lingered on a certain spot in the ground for a second, but then started moving again. Naruto, from where she was, could see where he'd looked and a quick glance showed her that there was an odd stick poking out of the ground that didn't look natural at all. Sakura didn't seem to notice at all, though, and merely watched the year's top rookie as he searched his mind for a suitable password.

"I'm only going to say this once, so listen carefully." Both Naruto and Sakura nodded at that. "First you will ask, 'The Ninja song, Ninki?' The answer is this… 'It is a good chance when a large number of enemies are making a scene. There are no hideouts even in a quiet place. It is important for a ninja to know the right time. When the enemy is tired, and has his guard down.' That's it." Sakura nodded at that, while Naruto just continued to stare.

"Okay," The pink haired ninja said confidently.

"C-c... could you say that again?" Naruto stuttered.

"I already said I'd only say it once," Sasuke snorted.

"Did you really forget everything already? I memorized it at once! You're such a dummy,"

"I-I memorized it perfectly! I just wanted to make sure by hearing it again…" Sasuke looked over at Naruto.

"Fine. I'll keep the scroll, then," Sasuke said as he reached into his pocket and fished the thing out. He handed it to Naruto, at the surprise of both of his teammates. Neither of them said anything for moment, and Sasuke continued talking. "Since I am the strongest on the team, it would be safest with me." He glanced down to where Naruto had seen the stick for no more than a second, and Naruto followed his eyes before realizing what was going on. She took the scroll and stuck it in her pouch.

"Hmph, you're not so great," she said offhandedly. "Well, we should go." Sakura looked from one to the other in confusion.

"Wait, what was that about-"

"Sakura-chan, you feeling better yet?" The blonde kunoichi asked cheerfully.

"Oh… Uh… Yeah, definitely!" The girl stood up energetically. "So we're going already?"

"Yeah--" Sasuke stopped and turned his head. Suddenly, from the direction he was looking, a great gust of wind blew at them. Sasuke jumped down to the side and hid under a bush as he heard Naruto and Sakura scream. 'Those idiots, they're just standing there!' As he watched from his position, he saw Naruto suddenly get picked up by the wind and blown into the distance. The winds picked up enough to obscure his view, and he lost sight of Sakura. 'Damn it! Those two really need to start thinking like real Ninja!' As the winds finally died down, he was able to see Sakura again, but she was in a slightly different position. Quickly, he stood up with a Kunai held at the ready.

"Sasuke-kun!" The girl noticed him right away, but had a suspicious look in her eyes. They both surveyed each other before asking an identical question.

"The Ninja song, Ninki?" They both nodded and Sakura continued. "It is a good chance when a large number of enemies are making a scene."

"There are no hideouts even in a quiet place."

"It is important for a ninja to know the right time."

"When the enemy is tired, and has his guard down." When they were finished, they both sighed in relief.

"Sasuke-kun, did you see where Naruto went?" She asked.

"He was blown away," The boy scowled. "Honestly…" Just as they said that, Naruto came running at them from the direction the wind had come from. Sasuke narrowed his eyes as he noted that. 'How obvious.'

"You guys okay?"

"Wait! The password!" Sasuke demanded, stopping the other ninja.

"I know! It is a good chance when a large number of enemies are making a scene. There are no hideouts even in a quiet place. It is important for a ninja to know the right time. When the enemy is tired, and has his guard down." Sasuke nodded to himself.

'If it wasn't obvious before, you practically told us you were fake just now.' With an almost casual flick of his wrist, he launched his Kunai at the imposter. The other ninja fell to the side and dodged the attack.

"W-what the hell are you doing?" it demanded.

"Someone good enough to dodge my attack…" Sasuke frowned. 'This could be hard.'

"What do you mean?" Sakura demanded as she looked at her teammate. "He got the password right!"

"That's exactly why I know he's a fake," Sasuke said. "Naruto wouldn't have been able to remember such a long password. And he came from the wrong direction." Sakura blinked as she realized he was right and looked at the fake before them, who sneered. "What do you think he would have said if I had asked the real Naruto for the password?"

"Sorry, I forgot," Sakura said in a good impression of Naruto's manner. The fake Naruto merely chuckled.

"I see…"

"That's enough, faker," Sasuke spoke up in a commanding tone. "Why don't you reveal yourself to us now?"

"Hmmmm…" The fake Naruto's tongue slipped out of her mouth and she licked her lips as if in anticipation. Sasuke faltered as he noticed long it was, when the blonde fake suddenly exploded into a large dome of smoke. Sasuke frowned at the showy transformation as the smoke cleared.

"Really, now…" The feminine _man_, Sasuke noticed, said. "If you had known your teammate was going to forget, why make such a long password?"

"I knew you were listening in the ground," Sasuke said with a smirk. "That's why I made it long."

"I see. You don't let down your guard, do you? It looks like I can have more fun than I'd thought." The man said, in his annoyingly feminine way.

'Is this guy… a pervert?' The boy found himself thinking. As the thought crossed his mind, he gagged in disgust. The man to licked his lips with that disgusting tongue and that only made it more… gross. Sakura's mind was running along a similar line.

'This guy is too creepy… and where's Naruto, anyway?'

-

"Ugh…" Naruto groaned from her position, upside down and against a tree. She made a minimal bit of effort in falling to her side so that she could properly sit up and assess the situation. "Hey… Where'd Sakura-chan and Sasuke go off too?" The girl looked down at the dirt trail she'd made as she slid across the ground. "I got blown away…" It was then that her body went rigid, and within one second her body was airborne from instincts and reflexes alone. The girl flipped in the air and slid as she landed, surprised to see what had attacked her.

"It's… a humongous snake!?" She jumped again in order to dodge the snake's head, only to find that the snake's tail followed her into the air and slammed her hard into a tree. Wasting no time, she made the familiar seal with her hands. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" She shouted. Instantly, five clones poofed into existence around her, and they barely had time to scatter as the snake attacked again.

"I've got to get out of here... Who knows what could be going on with Sakura-chan and Sasuke while I'm dealing with this thing?" the girl looked at all of her shadow clones and then at the snake. It was looking around at the five new clones in apparent confusion. "I know! I'll let them be a distraction and take off!" The orange clad kunoichi looked around and spotted the trail she'd left and immediately hopped over to it.

The snake moved to follow her, but all five of her clones jumped at its face in order to buy her time to escape. She snickered and started running up the trail.

-

Sasuke watched as the Kusa Nin reached into his pack and pulled out an Earth scroll. Instantly, his hand went to his own pack, and he flung a Kunai at full force towards the Kusa Nin's hand. The other ninja merely dodged to the side and gave Sasuke a neutral look. The young Uchiha prodigy sneered as he reached into his pack and retrieved several shuriken before charging the other ninja.

"You chose the wrong team to attack!" Sasuke yelled out as he let the shuriken fly. Sakura blinked as she finally noticed her teammate attacking the other ninja and looked around the clearing.

'Where are his team mates?' she thought as she surveyed the area. 'He can't be dumb enough to try and take us all on by himself,' she thought. The girl leapt up into the trees and started combing through them in an attempt to flush out the other two ninja. Down below Sasuke was frowning at the speed with which his opponent was able to dodge him.

'He's faster than that ice ninja,' The boy thought as he activated his Sharingan and continued to string up combos that were either blocked or dodged. He scowled as he noticed that not only was the other ninja still holding the Earth scroll, he seemed to be more amused by his attacks than anything. Sasuke broke away from their engagement and formed a handseal before taking a quick breath and blowing fire out at his enemy. The other ninja simply jumped out of the way of the flames and moved to attack Sasuke, but stopped and jumped up in the air to dodge a hail of kunai from above. Sasuke mentally thanked Sakura and jumped up after his foe, forming seals along the way.

"Katon: Karyuu Endan!" Sasuke finished his seals and took a deep breath before letting loose a stream of fire that reached the Kusa Nin. The other ninja looked surprised as the intense flames washed over him and Sasuke quickly reached into his pack to retrieve another kunai. The kunai flew at the Earth Scroll in the other ninja's hand and knocked it away before the fire even stopped streaming from his mouth.

He didn't bother to track the scroll as it fell away, figuring that Sakura would go after it. Sasuke frowned as his attack ended, and both he and the Kusa Nin landed on one of the many thick, scattered tree branches in the dark forest. Sasuke looked at his enemy in slight shock as he noticed that the feminine man did not seem to be as injured as he should have been by the high-powered fire attack.

'That was my strongest ju…' Sasuke noticed something odd as he looked at the Kusa Nin's face. Parts of it had melted away, revealing patches of pale skin. 'What… what the hell?' The other ninja took advantage of his momentary surprise and rushed him. Sasuke barely had the time to move into a defensive position, blocking and dodging what little he could. The other ninja quickly overpowered him, though, punching and kicking through the smaller ninja's defenses and landing several hits along his entire body. The last strike was an uppercut that sent him flying off of the tree branch.

Sasuke recovered in the air and looked around. He quickly reached into his pack and tossed two shuriken up at a branch. They circled around the branch several times and he held onto the wire that had been attached to the Shuriken, using his downward momentum to swing back up onto another branch. He looked around and noticed that his opponent was nowhere to be seen. He looked around several times and took a few cautious steps around.

'Where is he? Is he going after Sakura?' He looked up and turned his head around several times. Sasuke's eyes widened as he felt two powerful hands take hold of his ankles. He looked down in time to see the ninja's pale face rushing up at him with its mouth wide open.

"Sasukeee!" Naruto's voice rang out and lingered on the last syllable as an orange blur crashed into the ninja's pale face. The orange clad kunoichi's foot connected with her foe's cheek, sending the head reeling away. As Naruto landed, both she and Sasuke stared dumbfounded at the state of their enemy's body. It was halfway submerged in wood, with two hands around Sasuke's ankles, and the neck stretched off into the distance with its head nowhere to be seen. "What the hell _is_ that?"

"I don't know," Sasuke admitted as he pulled away from the ninja's hands. Sakura suddenly landed next to them.

"He's alone." Sasuke frowned at that bit of information.

"Sakura, you got the Earth scroll?" The girl nodded in response.

"It's in my pack," she informed them.

"We got an Earth scroll?" Naruto asked excitedly. "Alright! We're number one! We're number one! Ha ha!" The girl cheered loudly and jumped around. "I bet no one else got it that soon!"

"Wait a second." Sasuke said with narrowed eyes as he looked at the mangled body. It had turned into sludge and started melting. "Kawarimi no Jutsu… He's on the move."

"That thing is coming back?" Naruto asked, surprised. "I thought we kicked his ass!? How the hell can you come back from that?"

"He's no ordinary Ninja," Sasuke scowled as he looked around, alert. He suddenly looked down with wide eyes and leapt away. "Move! He can go through the ground!" Both of his teammates immediately complied and leapt after him as they remembered exactly how Sasuke had been before Naruto intervened. As the three jumped through the trees, Sasuke made a few quick mental calculations. "Let's retreat. We have what we need already. We don't need any unnecessary delays like this," He yelled out.

"I'm afraid it won't be that easy," the Kusa Nin's voice called out to them. All three of the Ninja turned back in time to see a huge snake shoot up through the branch they had just leapt off of. On top of the snake was the unmistakable yet comparably tiny form of the Kusa Nin from before. They all gawked at the sheer size of the snake.

"It's bigger than the last one!" Naruto exclaimed.

"That thing's huge!" Sakura shouted out. Sasuke frowned as he noticed with his Sharingan that the man's entire face had changed now, and the hitaite he wore had the oto emblem.

The young Uchiha scowled as he tried to think of a strategy that they could use to get away from the snake and the trio continued leaping away as it followed them. The monstrous reptile suddenly dived at them, and they each scattered in different directions as its momentum carried _through_ the next few branches in their path. Sasuke cursed as he landed on a branch. The snake's attack had separated them.

'Just when I came up with a plan, too. Damn it!' He started looking around frantically. "Naruto! Sakura!"

"Sasuke!" Both of them called back. He looked down at a lower branch where Naruto was rising to her feet, and then to another branch where Sakura was kneeling. Sasuke was about to leap down to Sakura when the snake's tail suddenly slammed into him from behind, knocking the wind out of him. Sakura gasped as she watched her crush fly straight into a thick tree trunk. The force of the attack had easily embedded the boy in the wood. The girl quickly reached down to the weights around her shins and ejected the chakra that was in them and leapt to Sasuke's aid. As soon as she landed on the trunk, she stuck to it and grabbed the boy, hoisting him over her shoulder before jumping off of the tree. Naruto watched as the other girl landed on another branch.

"This doesn't look good," the blonde ninja muttered as the snake's head rose up behind Sakura. "Sakura! Behind you!" The girl heeded her warning in time to jump off of the branch before it exploded from the force the snake had attacked it with, but the pale faced ninja took the opportunity to jump off of the snake and attack the airborne genin. With a single kick, Sakura was slammed into another branch much the same way Sasuke had been just moments before, knocking the stunned ninja out of her grip. "Sasuke! Sakura-Chan!" Naruto yelled out in panic as she leapt towards the pink haired kunoichi.

"You two are becoming a nuisance," the other ninja said simply as the snake rose up between Sakura and Naruto. "I only want to play with Sasuke-kun today." Sakura looked up at the other ninja.

'He knows Sasuke-kun?!' The pinkette thought frantically.

"W-what?! Who are you?!" Naruto demanded. She winced as the snake opened its mouth and shot at her. "Hey! Wait a minute-" she didn't get to finish her thought as the massive jaws closed on her.

"N-Naruto?!" Sakura's eyes widened in horror as her friend disappeared in the gigantic animal's jaws. "NARUTO!"

Down below, Sasuke came to at the shout. The boy groaned and blinked several times as he rose to his knees. He moved to a sitting position and tried to regain his bearings.

"Ugh… Stupid snake…" He thought angrily as he looked up.

"Give Naruto back!" Sakura shrieked as she leapt towards the strange Ninja with some kunai in hand. "Give him BACK!" Sasuke was mildly disturbed by the tone of voice with which the pink haired kunoichi was using at the other ninja. Sasuke shook his head and quickly reached into his pack as he looked around for the blonde kunoichi. There was a spectacular crash above, and his eyes instinctively shot up to where it'd come from. Sakura had been slammed by the snake's tail into a tree trunk again.

'Damn it!' He scowled as he quickly located their enemy. 'I've got to delay him until Naruto shows up again,' The pale skinned ninja was looking at Sakura's still body from a tree branch above. Without delay, he leapt up towards the man and put a wire into his mouth as he threw several twined Shuriken at the man. The man only barely seemed to take notice of the shuriken as Sasuke used the Sharingan to see exactly how to tie him up.

"Sharingan controlled…" His opponent noticed before looking to the source. The man was tied up by thin wire before he could react.

"Katon: Ryuuka no Jutsu!" Sasuke yelled out the name of his attack and a stream of shot from his mouth along the wire before enveloping the man in flames. Although the flames of the Karyuu Endan were much hotter, Sasuke was starting to feel exhausted and a big expenditure on his Chakra like the Karyuu Endan would have practically knocked him out. 'I shouldn't have used it in the beginning, either,' he growled as he realized that he'd be fighting better if he'd stuck with the Goukakyu no Jutsu. Sasuke frowned as his flames died down to reveal that another quickly melting pile of mud had taken the place of his target.

"You're definitely skilled, Sasuke-kun," The enemy Ninja's voice said from behind him. "But it's time to put an end to this." Sasuke had already started going through the motions for a jump when he first heard the other ninja's voice, so he was in the air and turning around by the time the other ninja had finished his sentence. As Sasuke hung in the air, he saw the completely unharmed ninja standing there with a grin and realized just how outclassed his team was.

'We're finished,' the boy thought solemnly. The pale Ninja's neck once again extended and his head was shot at Sasuke with his mouth open, fangs protruding. 'Wait. Fangs?' Sasuke's confusion only lasted long enough for something else to suddenly crash into him from the side, altering his trajectory. Sakura hung in the air in Sasuke's place, surprising both the pale faced Ninja and her teammate.

The world seemed to slow down as the snake man's momentum carried his fangs into the pink haired girl's neck instead of Sasuke's, before speeding up again.

"Sakura!" Sasuke twisted his body in the air and landed on a branch as the pale faced ninja withdrew his head, only stopping to jump once more towards his female teammate. The girl had a wide-eyed expression of intense pain on her face, and Sasuke noticed a black shape appearing on her neck where she'd been bitten, the design reminiscent of his Sharingan. She yelled out in pain and Sasuke scowled at their attacker, whose attention seemed to finally be on something else. Sasuke followed his eyes up and noticed that part of the giant snake's throat was covered in a red aura.

The red spot bulged outwards before an orange shape suddenly burst out of it in a spray of blood. The snake fell down as the hole in its neck oozed the thick red liquid, leaving only the semi-floating figure of Naruto. The girl was enveloped in a hazy aura of red chakra.

"Naruto?!" Sasuke's eyes opened in wonder. 'She was in there?' The girl in his arms screamed out again and he remembered the situation. He quickly leapt up towards Naruto's level. "Naruto! We have to get out of here!" The blonde girl didn't even acknowledge him as she formed several hand seals.

"Katon: Goukakyu no Jutsu!" Without even taking in a breath, she unleashed a fiery inferno from her mouth at their enemy. The huge fireball was at least five times as big as one of Sasuke's own and almost as hot as his Karyuu Endan. Sasuke suddenly noticed the red chakra and realized that it was the Kyuubi at work.

He frowned as he saw the raw power behind the basic Jutsu. Naruto was monstrously strong with that demon's power. 'I'd hate to be there if she lost control of it,' He and Naruto both leapt on the same branch. He looked over at the girl to see that most of the red aura had dissipated after the jutsu, but her face still had those demonic attributes. "Naruto, make as many Shadow Clones as you can. We're going straight to the tower," He commanded before leaping away. The girl only grunted in acknowledgement and formed the ram seal.

Sasuke looked down at the girl in his arms as he leapt from branch to branch. Her eyes were open, but unfocused, and she had broken out in a sweat. He looked at the bite wound on her neck and the seal that was near it.

'He's got some kind of poison on his teeth,' The boy thought. 'But why would he do that?' The boy went over the battle in his mind as he jumped from tree to tree. 'He was going after me. He actually tried to bite me twice, Naruto stopped him the first time.'

"Sasuke! What's wrong with Sakura-chan?!" His blonde companion called out as she came up beside him.

"That bastard bit her," He said. "It looks like some kind of poison. She needs medical attention,"

"I'll carry her," Naruto said. "You're hurt pretty bad too, right?"

"I'll be fine," Sasuke snapped. "What's going on with your clones?"

"Huh? How should I know?"

"Your shadow clones," Sasuke said, irritably. "You did know you that you can get information from them, didn't you?"

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"When they die, their experience gets sent to you," the Uchiha explained. "You didn't know that?"

"It does?" The girl blinked and then her eyes widened. "Hey, it does! I didn't notice that!"

"You are a total moron, you know that? How the hell did you not notice all those memories getting sent to your brain?" Sasuke demanded as he kept jumping. "Is your brain that weak?"

"Hey! Shut up!" She snapped. "He's… He's killing them off ridiculously fast," she shuddered. "I've never seen that sort of Jutsu before…" The girl kept jumping. "There's no way that guy is a genin!"

"Are you just now realizing that?" Sasuke demanded again. "What the hell is wrong with you? Are you just plain slow or something?"

"Shut up!" she screamed back, her face the color of a ripe tomato. The fear that had wracked Sasuke during the fight started to fade away with the somewhat normal scene. The young ninja shook his head at her reaction and kept leaping through the trees. He looked down at the pink haired girl in his arms and quelled the emotions that rose up within him.

'You're just as dumb as she is,' he thought angrily. 'Why the hell did you jump in the way like that? Why…' Sasuke grit his teeth as his body started to protest their rapid pace. He narrowed his eyes and ignored the strain he was putting on his body.

Naruto watched her rival out of the corner of her eye. 'Stupid Sasuke, callin' me slow in the head. See if I care that you're all hurting and stuff.' She looked at the sweaty girl in Sasuke's arms and scowled. 'If I get another chance with that bastard… I'll…I'll…'

Minutes passed with silence between the two young ninja. The only sounds were the rustles of leaves as they bounded across thick branches. Naruto bit her lip as the clones stopped dying.

"He stopped killing them!" Naruto yelled out to her companion.

"What? How many did you leave?"

"Uh, a few hundred, I think," She said. "I just tried to make as many as I could," She stuttered. Sasuke frowned. Hundreds shadow clones? That would have taken a retarded amount of chakra to do. According to what he'd read up on the kage bunshin, and from his own attempts at it, Jounin level ninja weren't supposed to be able to do an eighth of that many at once. Sasuke looked over at Naruto with mixed feelings at the blatant power.

"We've got to speed up," Sasuke shouted. "He could be on his way after us,"

"Why? What the hell is that freak even doing in the Chuunin exams anyway? If he's not a genin…"

"He's after me," Sasuke said.

"What?" Naruto looked over at her rival and frowned.

"I don't know why. But he knew my name." The boy started putting as much Chakra into his legs as he could muster and his speed nearly doubled. Naruto easily managed to match the speed as she mimicked him.

The two rookie genin quickly burst out of the forest and into a clearing. In the large area before them, a huge red tower stood tall like a monument of sorts. There was a double door that presumably led inside the building. Naruto bounded over to the doors and kicked them in, knocking the doors off of the hinges completely.

"Hey! We need help over here!" she yelled out as she ran in, with Sasuke in tow. The black haired boy looked at the doors' hinges in shock as he ran by, realizing that the doors were supposed to open out. "Is anybody here!? Hello!!" Sasuke quickly set his pink haired companion on the ground and looked her over. The girl was breathing through her mouth rapidly now, and her eyes were wide open. Her entire body was covered in sweat.

"My friend is hurt! We need help!" Naruto's desperate calls went unheeded and the girl started banging on a wall.

'We're here at the tower. We're safe.' As the adrenaline drained out of his body, the pain of exhaustion and strain became stronger, but he was able to ignore it in favor of the situation. "We need to get Sakura medical help," he muttered to himself. 'Focus. First we need to be noticed. No one seems to hear Naruto's shouts right now.' He frowned.

'There might not even be anyone in the building right now. I don't think they were expecting us to get here in under an hour.' The boy's eyes quickly roved around the room, looking for ways deeper into the building. There was a scroll on the wall, but he didn't bother reading it. As he found no obvious doors, he started trying to think of alternate ways to get in. Sasuke closed his eyes and tried to calm himself.

'Okay. Suppose we had gotten here normally. What would we do?' He closed his eyes again. 'The scrolls. We have to have both scrolls to get in. Are we supposed to present them to someone?' The boy sighed. 'There's no one here. I don't think anyone would sit here waiting all day and night for us to show up, either.' He opened his eyes and looked at Sakura's pack. "It's got to be something with the scrolls themselves." He reached into the pack and felt around. He found and retrieved the Earth scroll with minimal searching. 'At least one thing good came of that encounter.' The boy sat up and looked at the scroll.

"Naruto, get out the Heaven scroll," He said calmly. Naruto turned to face her self-appointed team leader and frowned.

"What?"

"Just get it out," Sasuke snapped. The girl frowned at that.

"Why?" She asked defiantly. Sasuke growled.

"We've got to use them to get inside somehow."

"What makes you say that?"

"Now's not the time, Naruto," Sasuke said angrily. "Just get the damn thing out." Naruto scowled, but obeyed. "Give it here." She threw the scroll at him haphazardly, but he caught it all the same. "Now… how does it work?" He looked at the scrolls in each of his hands. "Hmm…"

"Try opening them at the same time," Naruto suggested. Sasuke blinked at that.

'Of course. How simple.' He held the scrolls up and they both unrolled, falling to the ground. Sasuke blinked as he noticed the contents of the scroll. 'Human summon?' He blinked as smoke suddenly started rising from the scroll. Naruto walked over to his side and stood, waiting. 'Is it some sort of final test?'

There was an explosion of smoke, and it just as quickly cleared away to reveal Umino Iruka, who had a surprised look on his face.

"Iruka-sensei?" Naruto asked in confusion.

"N-Naruto?" Iruka looked at the blonde in confusion. "Y-You're here already?!"

"Iruka-sensei, Sakura-chan's been hurt!" Iruka's eyes instantly snapped down to the pink haired girl. The Chuunin was by her side in a blur.

"What happened?" He demanded as he looked down at the girl.

"She was bitten by some kind of snake-man," Sasuke informed him. The scarred man barely registered his statement, however.

"I knew it…" The teacher muttered under his breath. He looked down at the girl with a grim look. 'I knew it was still too early for these kids to be doing this! I knew it and yet I let those reckless excuses for Jounin Sensei do this…' He shook his head, gently picked the girl up in his arms and stood up.

"Can you two still move?" He asked, looking at the sitting ninja.

"Yes," Sasuke said. The boy winced as he stood up. "I'll be fine."

"There's another door that will take us where we need to go faster than the one in here," The chuunin said as he ran out of the room. Naruto ran over to the door, but Sasuke stood there. The blonde stopped at the door and turned around to look at her teammate.

"Sasuke?"

"I'll be right there," Sasuke said through gritted teeth. "I just need to catch my breath. Go ahead," The girl blinked and considered that for a moment before she frowned at him. "What are you doing?" Sasuke demanded. "I said to go on." Naruto walked over to him put an arm around his waist. "I said I'd be fine!" he yelled.

"Shut up."

---

Naruto sighed as she sat on a chair outside the room where Sakura was lying down. Beside her on another chair was Sasuke, who hadn't said a word since they made it into the building. The black eyed ninja has a pensive look on his face as he stared off into nothingness.

"Oh man… I hope Sakura-chan's all right…" Naruto sat back into the chair, just as Sasuke shakily stood up. She looked up at him and blinked. "Where you goin'?"

"I need to rest." Was the simple answer as he stiffly walked away. Naruto frowned.

"Don't you want to hear about Sakura-Chan?"

"I'll find out later." Naruto followed him with her eyes until he turned a corner. They were going to be staying in the tower until the time limit was over. 'Man, I could sure go for some Ichiraku's right now,' the girl thought as she felt a sudden pang of hunger. "That's right. We haven't eaten since this morning." She frowned as Iruka walked out of the room where Sakura was being kept and sighed.

"Is she going to be all right?"

"Yes." The man looked at the empty chair and then at Naruto. "Where's Sasuke?"

"He needed rest," Naruto shrugged. "I think he pushed himself too hard."

"All right then. Naruto-chan, I want you to explain _everything_ that happened to me."

"Uh, okay. But I uh, I was distracted for most of the fight," She admitted, scratching the back of her head. "Okay… Anyway, there was a big gust of wind. I got separated from Sasuke and Sakura-chan. Anyway, there wuz this huge ol snake that attacked me," She said.

"A giant snake you say?" Iruka asked. 'Oh no…'

"Yeah, that's right. Anyway, I ran away from the snake because I thought they might need my help. I made some shadow clones and they stopped it from chasing after me. Anyway, I ran into the fight in time to stop the snake man from biting Sasuke," The man looked troubled at that.

"He was going after Sasuke?"

"Yeah. And when I kicked him, his neck stretched like a bungee cord or something, but his head never came back. He melted and Sasuke was saying how it was a Kawarimi or something. Oh, and before, he was poking out of the tree like it was water or something."

"Wait, what?"

"When he wanted to bite Sasuke, he was sticking out of the tree," Naruto explained. Iruka frowned at that.

"You mean he was inside of a solid object?"

"Yeah," The orange clad ninja nodded. "Anyway, after he melted, Sasuke said it was a Kawarimi and said that since he could go through uh, solid stuff, that we should be movin'. We jumped away and Sasuke said to just come here since Sakura had stolen his Earth scroll, but the snake guy was back already and an even bigger snake than before appeared and smashed the tree we were supposed to land on. After that, the snake smashed Sasuke and Sakura-chan up, and, er, ate me," Iruka blinked at that last bit. "Anyway-"

"Wait," Iruka interrupted her. "The snake ate you?"

"Yeah, but I got out. Anyway-"

"How did you get out?" he demanded. The blonde girl fidgeted and avoided looking at Iruka's eyes.

"Hey, Iruka-sensei…I, err…that is… well… I used an explosive jutsu?" Iruka frowned at that. "Yeah. Anyway… I got out and then made a distraction, and we escaped."

"I see…" Iruka closed his eyes. "What village was he from?"

"Oto. At first, I thought it was Kusa, but his hitaite changed during the fight."

"Hmm…" Iruka nodded. 'I will have to inform the Hokage of this post haste,' "Thank you, Naruto. That was helpful." Naruto nodded back.

"Ano sa, ano sa, Iruka-sensei…" Iruka opened his eyes and looked down at the girl. She had a worried look on her face, but her eyes were closed too. "What's wrong with Sakura-chan?"

"She has a few bone fractures, but the Medic Nins will have those taken care of before tomorrow. As for the bite… they weren't even able to identify any sort of poison in her blood. It seemed to be in her Chakra rather than her blood. The black marks on her neck were connected somehow. Her body relaxed, so the worst seems to be over. She's just asleep right now." Naruto blinked.

"Black marks?"

"It was a symbol of some sort," Iruka said, waving it off. "Naruto-chan-"

"Iruka-sensei…" the girl crossed her arms. "Didn't I tell you to stop calling me that?"

"I'll call you whatever I want," the teacher snorted. "You're still my student, Naruto-_chan_,"

"But I'm a genin already, and when this is over, I'll be a chuunin!" she whined. "Stop treating me like a child!"

"Anyway, Naruto-chan," The scarred man chuckled over her groan. "I'm going to call Kakashi-sensei here. I have some other business to attend to at the moment, so sit tight, okay? You can wander around the tower all you like; one of the other chuunin will show you around. Try to get some rest, okay? You sound like you've been through a lot in the past hour."

"Okay!" The girl said energetically. Iruka chuckled again as he turned away and started walking.

'And still so full of energy…'

---

"Kyuubi, huh…" Sasuke stared straight up at the ceiling from a cot. 'Kyuubi no yoko…' He closed his eyes in deep thought. 'I haven't thought about it before, but Naruto seems to inherit some of her mannerisms from the thing.' All the pranks, especially her Oiroke no Jutsu, her personality…

"All that extra Chakra, too… Just how much of it was she using? It was only a small bit of that thing's real power…" Sasuke's face contorted with anger. 'Naruto doesn't deserve all that power. She doesn't train unless she's told to, and she doesn't care about anything but having fun. She's far too naïve to even be a ninja in the first place.' The boy opened his eyes and scowled at the ceiling for a good twenty seconds. When he realized that he was glaring at the ceiling, he sighed.

'Che. And yet, for some reason, I can't bring myself to hate her.'

"Sasuke." Sasuke sat up and looked at the door. Iruka was standing there with a pensive look on his face. "You okay?"

"I'm _fine,_" Sasuke responded as he laid back down. Iruka sighed at his attitude.

"Sakura had multiple bone fractures and a broken rib. You should probably go get checked out too." The chuunin stood there for a moment before speaking again. "How did Naruto get out of the Snake? Did you see?" he asked. "She wouldn't tell me." Sasuke blinked at that.

'You want me to undermine her wishes?' The boy looked at their old sensei out of the corner of his eye before looking back at the ceiling. "…She ripped her way out of the snake's neck. It died." Iruka looked surprised.

"H-How big was the snake?"

"It was… probably big enough curl around the Hokage Tower." Iruka's eyes widened.

"And…she just… tore out of there?"

"She was using the Kyuubi's Chakra." Iruka froze at the mention of the bijuu. "She told me about it last night, but I didn't know she could use it like that. Last time, she just beat the other guy to death." Iruka paled at that. Sasuke looked at him out of the corner of his eye. "You okay over there?"

"She used the K-Kyuubi's Chakra? Twice?" 'Naruto killed someone…?'

"Yeah," Sasuke said. "You knew about the thing, didn't you?"

"Of course," Iruka snapped. "I was just surprised. I didn't know she could… do that. Or that you knew."

"Right. Anyway, was that all?" Iruka blinked as he realized that it was.

"Yes. You really should go get yourself checked out." He said, turning to leave. Sasuke closed his eyes.

"…Sensei."

"Hmm?" Iruka turned back to look at his old student.

"My legs hurt."

"Is that right?" Iruka asked, looking at his student with a smirk on his face. "You sure about that, Sasuke-kun? I mean, the great and dignified Uchiha…"

"Shut up."

---

Naruto sighed as she walked around the big, empty tower. She had gotten a chuunin to help her get some food in the cafeteria, which hadn't been open yet, but now had nothing else to do for the rest of the day. Sure she wanted to see how Sakura-chan was doing, and she'd have loved to have seen Sasuke in his moment of weakness, but she knew that watching Sakura all day would be boring, and being around Sasuke-teme was annoying. The boy was a confusing person to be around; every emotion she'd ever felt before, she'd felt thanks to him. Anger, sadness, happiness… envy, pity and sympathy…

'Huh huh. If I had a family, would Sasuke be like my older brother?' She blinked several times. 'We're a lot alike. Both of us are orphans, too. Huh. I wonder what it's like having had a family, and then losing it? I never had one. I should ask him sometime.'

"Yo, Naruto-kun." Naruto blinked and turned around. Standing right behind her was her Jounin-sensei.

"Kakashi-sensei?" She blinked up in surprise. "You got here already?"

"Ahh, yes, well…" The jounin looked embarrassed. "When I heard that my team had broken the old record for this test by five hours, I was, well, a bit excited."

"Oh yeah?" Naruto asked, scratching her head. "I guess that's pretty cool." Kakashi drew back at that. "Eh? Kakashi-sensei? You all right?" The jounin blinked and knelt down, looking at her in the face. He pulled his hitaite up and Naruto blinked. "Eh?" The man grabbed her chin and turned her head. "Hey, stop that! What are you doing?"

"Who are you? You're not doing a very good job of impersonating the most hyperactive loudmouth unpredictable ninja in all of Konoha."

"I am me!" She snapped, stepping away. "I mean, I _am_ the most hyperactive ninja in Konoha!"

"You don't seem to be yourself today." Her teacher pulled his Hitaite back down, covering his Sharingan.

"Well, I was just thinking about family stuff," Naruto said. Kakashi's one eye blinked at that.

"Ah. I see." He blinked some more. "What exactly do you mean?"

"Sasuke's kinda similar to me, and we spend a lot of time together. So I guess we're sorta like brother and sister, right?"

"I suppose you could say that. You do have similar histories… to an extent. And you get along the same way some siblings do. If you want, you could probably call Sasuke your brother. I'm sure he won't mind." The man was grinning under his mask.

"Okay! Cool!" The blonde's energy seemed to return at that. "Next time I see Sasuke-teme, I'll call him my brother and see what he says!"

"Right then," Kakashi stood up. "I heard Sakura was banged up a little, but she's getting better?"

"Oh yeah. Come on, follow me!" Naruto turned away and started walking. Kakashi followed her, through two doors, up a flight of stairs, and into a small room. There were two medical beds, and both Sasuke and Sakura occupied one each. Sasuke was sitting up, looking across the room at his female teammate. "Ahh! There you are, Sasuke no nii-chan!" Sasuke looked at Naruto with a look of incomprehension. "You got fixed up too, did you?"

"…Kakashi." Sasuke blinked once as his teacher followed the girl into the room. "What is she going on about?"

"I wish I knew," Kakashi said with a half smile, scratching his head in innocence.

-

"So, that's what happened," Kakashi said as he leaned against a wall. "That was a good call on both attempts to retreat, Sasuke."

"If we had gotten away the first time, Sakura wouldn't be like this," Sasuke protested. Kakashi raised an eyebrow at that.

'Guilt? Hmm…' The one eyed ninja shrugged. "Well, at least you're all alive. The man you went up against was more dangerous than you two can probably imagine."

"You know that creepy snake bastard?" Naruto asked from her chair.

"Sort of. I'll tell you more about him later if we get time. For now, Sasuke, you should be resting. You used up a lot of Chakra in that fight, didn't you? Go get something to eat and try to get some more rest." Sasuke merely hopped off of the bed, exiting the room. "As for you, Naruto-kun…" the silver haired jounin looked down at his blonde charge. "You still have plenty of energy, don't you?"

"Yeah."

"Well, don't you have something you could be doing?"

"Like what?"

"Training, maybe? Didn't you learn anything useful in the forest at all?"

"Huh… I dunno…"

"Well, go practice that leaf cutting exercise. I'm sure you'll figure something out."

"Okay." The girl stood and walked out of the room. Kakashi's gaze turned to the girl sleeping on the bed.

The Jounin stood up and walked over to the girl's side, and pulled back her collar to reveal the cursed seal. "Hmm…" He bit his thumb and used the blood that welled up to write a small rune beside each of the three marks. Three handseals later, the blood-runes glowed and vanished into the girl's skin. "This should work until she wakes up. I'll need to seal it as soon as possible." The man let go of the girl's clothes and sighed. "The question here is… why is Orochimaru going after Sasuke?"

-

Naruto frowned as she focused on the leaf in her hand. The girl was sitting on the roof in the gentle rays of the afternoon sun. She had been there since her sensei had suggested it to her hours ago, off and on falling asleep or daydreaming. She hadn't made much progress at all. The girl sighed and looked up at the sun that was now far in the west. "It's gotten kind of late," the girl sat back and looked up at the orange sky. "How the heck am I supposed to do this? This thing won't even get nicked by my chakra…"

"Naruto-kun?" Naruto jumped at the sudden voice.

"E-Eh?" The girl looked up and saw a smiling Hyuuga Hinata standing behind her. "Oh, Hinata-chan! What are you doing here?"

"Ano, I was entered into the Chuunin exams too…"

"Oh really?" Naruto blinked. "That's right! I hardly noticed you before… All I remember is last night." The white-eyed girl blushed at that. "Speakin' of which, you seem to be back to normal. So what'cha doin out here?"

"Oh, um… nothing… I just thought you could use the company. Can I sit here?"

"Sure! No problem!" The dark haired Hyuuga girl walked over to her side and sat down.

"So, Naruto-kun, what are you doing?"

"Oh, I'm just trying to cut this leaf in half with my Chakra," The blonde girl responded, holding up a leaf. Hinata blinked.

"Why are you trying to do that?"

"Kakashi-sensei said it would help me improve my wind jutsu and some other cool stuff. I think." The girl blinked.

"Oh…" The white eyed girl blinked at that. "Can I help?"

"Sure, I guess. I dunno how though… it's supposed to be only something someone with wind chakra can do…"

"Wind Chakra?" The other girl asked.

"Yeah. Kakashi-sensei said something about it meanin' that you're good with wind jutsu or something. Sasuke's got fire and Sakura-chan has water. I got wind."

"How can you tell which one you are?"

"Um, there's a piece of paper that you can put some chakra in, and it reacts. I dunno how it works." The Hyuuga girl blinked at that and turned away from her friend, looking up into the sky. "I'm trying to do the same thing with the leaf because it's supposed to be harder and means you're better or something." The dark haired girl considered that.

"Maybe if I could see how you did it with the paper or something, I could help you?"

"Huh? Nah, that's okay. Kakashi-sensei said I should be able to figure it out by now with what I learned in the forest…"

"Huh…" Both girls were silent for a while before Hinata spoke up once again. "Well…" Naruto looked over at her.

"Yeah?"

"What did you learn in the forest?"

"Huh… Um…" The girl scratched her head. "I dunno. Snakes can get pretty big, I guess." Hinata giggled at that and Naruto scratched her head some more. "What else…" The girl stared off into space for a few moments. "You can learn everything your Kage Bunshin does when it dies. I don't see what that does, though…" The girl blinked as she remembered something. "Hey, wait a minute! That's right!" Hinata looked over at her. "I left a bunch of Kage Bunshin in the forest! That guy didn't kill them all, so…" She blinked. "Wow. I wonder what they're doing right now." Hinata smiled at that.

"Maybe they're playing pranks?"

"Probably. They haven't died yet, or I'd have known. I think." Hinata blinked at that, and considered what Naruto had said about Kage Bunshin dying.

"How would you not notice?" The girl asked curiously.

"Uh…I have a lot on my mind?" Naruto asked. Somebody behind her snorted at that.

"You don't ever have anything but Ramen on your mind," a male voice said snidely. Naruto and Hinata turned around to see Kiba smirking at them with Akamaru at his heels and Sasuke standing behind him with his usual non-expression.

"Oh, It's the dog idiot and Sasuke no nii-chan! Did you get enough rest?" Kiba and Hinata both blinked at that and looked at Sasuke, who sighed into one of his hands.

"I don't know why she's calling me that." Kiba snorted again.

"Her head is just full of air, that's all."

"Hey! Take it back!" Naruto snapped.

"Ano… excuse me…" Naruto's eyes widened as she remembered Hinata's presence. "Did you just call Naruto a girl?"

"Yeah. You knew, didn't you? That Byakugan's not for nothing, is it?" Sasuke asked.

"Um… yes, but I didn't know she had told you…" Naruto blinked and she frowned at Hinata.

"You knew I was a girl?" She asked.

"What, don't you know about the Byakugan?" Kiba demanded. "Moron."

"Sure I do!" Naruto snapped. "I know all about the Byakugan!"

"Oh yeah? What's it do?" Kiba demanded.

"It uh, sees stuff?" Hinata giggled at that, and Kiba snorted again. Sasuke rolled his eyes as he turned around.

"I don't have time for this. We came to get you two because of dinner. If you want to eat, then you better come on."

"What? Why? It's not like Chouji is here or anything," Naruto asked as she stood up.

"Whatever." Sasuke put his hands in his pockets and walked away towards a balcony, where there was a door open and waiting for them.

"Hey nii-chan! Make sure to leave us some food!" Sasuke growled as a vein popped in his head.

"Yeah, wouldn't want us to starve, would you, 'nii-chan'?" Kiba mocked.

"Would you stop calling me that?"

"Sure, whatever you say, nii-chan!" Sasuke turned around and glared at the girl. "Heh heh… Hey, nii-chan, what's wrong? Ain'tcha gonna go eat something?"

"Naruto…" Sasuke started in a warning tone.

"Hey hey, come on now. You don't mind that I call you big brother, do you nii-chan?" Sasuke growled and started walking back towards the three. "Hey, what's up? D'ja forget something?"

"Yeah." Sasuke cracked his knuckles.

"Hey now… that looks kinda dangerous…" Naruto started. "…nii-chan." Sasuke suddenly sprinted at her and Naruto eeped before running away. Hinata giggled at their antics and Kiba snorted again.

"Looks like they won't be eating. C'mon, let's go, Hinata."

"Mmm…Actually, Kiba-kun…" The girl turned her head to look at the sun. "I wanted to watch the sunset for a little while longer…"

"Huh. Whatever," Kiba shrugged. "Kurenai-sensei just wanted to know where you were." He snorted. "C'mon, Akamaru!" The white pup barked twice as it followed its master back over to the balcony.

-

Naruto yawned as she walked into the red tower, with Sasuke behind her. The sky was a dark blue and the stars were starting to show.

"That was fun. Let's play again sometime, huh?"

"Play?" Sasuke frowned. "I thought we were sparring. And your taijutsu still needs a lot of work."

"Whatever. You wanna go see how Sakura-chan is doing?" Sasuke looked up at the sky.

"Hn…" The two walked into a door and looked around the hall.

"Huh?"

"…Let's go see her."

"Okay!" Naruto ran down the hall and turned the corner before running up the set of stairs. Sasuke stopped at a door that lead elsewhere and noticed that another team had arrived. In one of the other halls, three foreign ninjas were walking together. Sasuke immediately recognized the red haired boy as Sabaku no Gaara, and figured the other two were his teammates.

'Hmm. I'm not surprised that a team with a B rank mission is here already.' The boy turned away and followed after Naruto. As he walked up the stairs and into the room where Sakura was sleeping, he saw that Naruto was already standing by the girl's side. Sasuke noticed the light was off and flipped the switch, turning it on. Naruto jolted at the sudden increase in light. "Naruto? Why did you have the light off?"

"Huh? Oh. I didn't notice how dark it was," the girl admitted. "I wasn't paying attention, that's all." Sasuke nodded at that and looked over at Sakura. The girl was still sleeping peacefully. "Hey Sasuke, what do you think it means?"

"What?"

"This mark." Naruto pointed at the black shape on the back of the girl's shoulder. Sasuke looked at it and frowned as he noticed that the design was reminiscent of a mature Sharingan.

"…I don't know. But it can't be good." The Uchiha looked at his pink haired teammate's sleeping face. "It's getting late. We should leave her be. Come on." He turned and walked out of the room. Naruto followed after him, turning the light off as she did so.

"Nnngh…" Naruto froze.

"What's wrong, dobe?" Sasuke's voice could be heard from down the hall. Naruto ignored him and turned the light back on.

"Sakura-chan?" She walked back into the room and blinked as she noticed that Sakura's face had gone from peaceful to in pain. "Sakura-chan! Wake up!" The girl groaned again and shifted slightly, but didn't respond otherwise.

"Is she okay?" Sasuke asked from the door. "Does she need help?"

"I think she's having a nightmare," Sasuke walked up beside her as she started shaking her friend. "Hey, Sakura-chan! It's just a nightmare!"

"I don't think she can wake up right now, you dolt," Sasuke pulled Naruto's hand away from the other girl. "Leave her alone for now. If something happens, we'll just call a medic in here."

"R-right." Naruto backed off and sat down in a chair. "Maybe we should stay in here for tonight, huh?" Sasuke looked at her out of the corner of his eye.

"Aren't you hungry?"

"…Yeah."

"Well, come back after you've eaten. If she's fine then, just go to sleep."

"But, what if something happens?"

"She'll be fine," Sasuke said. "I'll watch her." Naruto stood up at that.

"I'll be right back," she told him as she left the room. Sasuke walked over to a wall and leaned back on it with his arms crossed.

"…I wonder what's going to happen next."

---

Sakura yawned as she blinked her eyes open.

'Ugh… what a strange dream…' The girl reached up to her eyes and rubbed the sleep out of them. 'Naruto getting eaten like that was probably the worst part…' The girl groaned as she sat up and stretched. When she noticed how cold it was compared to her bed, she opened her eyes and glanced around the room in confusion. 'Wait a minute. Where am I?' She fought off another yawn as she took in the room. Sitting in a chair by the door was her blonde teammate, fast asleep. 'Naruto…'

"You're awake." Came a familiar voice. Sakura turned her head around to see Sasuke looking out a window. The morning's sunlight easily shone in through the glass.

"Sasuke-kun?" The girl's voice had a confused tint to it. "Where are we?"

"We're in the tower," He said, looking at her. "Don't you remember? You grabbed the Earth scroll." Sakura froze at his mention of that.

"W-what? That was real?" She asked. "It wasn't a dream?" There was a pause before Sasuke answered.

"…No. We brought you here after we escaped from the fight."

"Escaped?" Sakura blinked. "What happened to that guy?"

"I don't know. Naruto says he just disappeared." Sakura's eyes widened and she whipped her head around to look at the blonde kunoichi that was still sleeping in the chair.

"Naruto?! You're alive?!" The girl in question ignored her in favor of sleeping more. "H-how… how did he get out of the snake?"

"I'll leave that to Naruto," Sasuke said in annoyance. "Kakashi will want to know that you're awake." The boy said as he walked around the bed she was lying on and to the door. "Stay here. I'll be back." The boy walked out of the door and immediately turned out of her view.

"Ouch," Sakura winced and a hand moved up to her shoulder as she noticed a sudden sharp pain. The girl turned her head to try and get a view of what was hurting. "That's right. That weirdo bit me…" The girl frowned; she couldn't turn her head well enough to see the wound. Sighing in defeat, she turned her head to look at the blonde ninja in the chair. "Huh. I wonder how you got out of that snake."

"Mmm…Sakura-chaaaannn…." Sakura frowned as the blonde ninja moaned her name. "Hnn…"

"Naruto?" The pink haired ninja frowned.

"Not there… not there… Oooooh! Sakura-chaaaaaan…Nya…" Naruto giggled and Sakura's left eye started ticking.

"Na-ru-tooo…" The girl was standing at her friend's side in an instant, cracking her knuckles. "WAKE UP!"

"Iyaaa!" Naruto jumped out of her chair and Sakura's fist passed through empty air. "Eh-heh-heh, Sakura-chan! I was just playing, heh…" Naruto was looking down at her from the ceiling. Sakura's scowl only worsened.

"Naruto… How dare you pretend to dream about us doing… something?"

"Aww, come on, Sakura-chan! It was just a joke!"

"Get down here you monkey!" the girl demanded, shaking her fist. "Don't make me come up there!" Naruto's eyes widened as she realized that her friend could stick to surfaces too.

"But Sakura-chan… it seems so much safer up here," The blonde said, crawling across the ceiling. "I don't know…"

"Hmm," Kakashi's voice came from the door. "It's nice to see you two acting normally." Both genin turned to the door where Kakashi was standing behind Sasuke. The latter had his arms crossed and a frown on his face.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura smiled as he walked in. "We did it, didn't we! Alright!" The girl suddenly cheered as it hit home that her group had succeeded.

"Yeah, congratulations and all that," Kakashi said. "Sakura, how do you feel?"

"Huh? Oh… uh, fine, I think." The girl blinked as she started feeling her body. "I thought I was hurt worse than this…"

"You were. The medic nins took care of that." Her teacher informed her. "How does your neck feel?"

"Oh, this?" The girl tried to look over her shoulder again. "Uh, it hurts still. Why weren't the Medic Nins able to get rid of it?"

"That's not just some random bite wound," Kakashi explained as he walked over to her. Naruto dropped down from the ceiling and looked at the other girl's shoulder. "This is a Cursed Seal. It poisons your chakra rather than your body."

"Your chakra?" Sasuke asked from the door. Kakashi nodded as he stood over Sakura.

"Yes. It's meant to corrupt your chakra, and when you use it, your mind." Sakura blinked at that.

"Corrupt?" She asked with a hint of fear.

"It takes a certain type of person to succumb to that corruption," Kakashi said, waving her fear off. "You don't need to worry about it, Sakura. Just don't use any chakra until I seal it, and you'll be fine."

"But… but why would someone want to do that to Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked.

"That wasn't meant for her," Sasuke said with a frown. "Kakashi-sensei. What would have happened if I'd been the one to get bitten?" Kakashi was silent for a moment as his students all stared at him.

"…Who knows. Anyway, Sakura, after you eat, I want you to find me so we can do the seal. After that, you guys can just go home until the next exam."

"Really?" Naruto asked excitedly.

"Yeah. You have four and a half days left, you know. It would be boring if you guys were just sitting around here, wouldn't it?"

"But we can't do any missions or anything…" Naruto crossed her arms. "I'd rather stay here. We can scope out the competition if we stay here,

"You sure about that?" Kakashi asked.

"Yeah. I'm sure the other ninjas are gonna stay here. We don't need special treatment!" Naruto thumped her chest.

"Well, whatever." Kakashi shrugged. "Don't forget, Sakura. I'll be waiting." The ninja formed a handseal and vanished in a puff of smoke. The two girls blinked at his display while Sasuke merely frowned.

"Okay. So then, what should we do today?" Naruto asked.

"Well, I am hungry," Sakura admitted.

"Okay then! Breakfast it is!" Naruto ran past Sasuke in a blur.

"What a moron," Sasuke sighed, shaking his head. Sakura giggled at their respective behaviors.

"Well, what can you do? Naruto has always been like that…"

"Hn. Well, come on," Sasuke said, turning and walking out the door. "You don't want to take too long, or Naruto will eat everything."

---

Naruto looked down at the leaf in her hand as she tried once more to cut it in half with her Chakra. Sasuke was inside the tower, practicing some Jutsu in a big open area they'd found, and Naruto had gone outside to do the leaf exercise. As the girl tried to imagine the leaf suddenly split in half, she found herself wondering about how her friend was doing.

"Hmm…Sakura-chan…" the blonde looked up into the sky, before suddenly shaking her head. "No no no! Focus!" She frowned and glared at the leaf in her hand. "Hmm…Wait a minute, I have an idea!"

-

"No, this won't work," Naruto grunted as she fell from her handstand. The chakra in her feet wasn't doing any better than the Chakra in her hands. "Hmm… I've got to figure something out!"

"Are you still doing this?" Sasuke asked as he walked outside. The grass crunched under his feet as he approached her. The girl looked up at him from the ground and quickly jumped to her feet.

"Yeah! You got a problem, Sasuke-teme? Kakashi-sensei told me I should be happy if I get it in half a year!" The boy rolled his eyes.

"Do you need everything spelled out to you…?" He asked.

"Huh? What do you mean?" She asked in confusion.

"…You really are slow," Sasuke said in a tone of false pity. "All this time, I was making fun of you…" He sighed and shook his head. Naruto was red in the face by the time he was finished.

"You bastard! I'm not retarded!"

"Right, right, whatever you say, Naruto." Naruto growled as she jumped at the black haired boy, who gave her an amused look as he sidestepped the clumsy tackle. "Anyway. You might want to try Kage Bunshin. You can make a lot of those, can't you?"

"Huh?" The girl asked, scratching her head.

"See? This is what I was talking about just now. You really need to exercise your mind. Try reading a book or something." Naruto growled again and started standing up. "Anyway. With Kage Bunshin, since you learn everything they do, all of your clones can try to figure out how to cut the leaf." Naruto stared at him for a few seconds. "…And when they all disperse-" The girl's face suddenly lit up.

"Oooooh!" She blinked. "I'll gain all of their knowledge!" Sasuke snorted.

"Yes." The boy sighed and turned away. "It's probably something that'd only work for you, because of how much Chakra you have." He started walking away and back to the door. Naruto blinked and scratched her head, unsure of how to react. She was angry at him for insulting her, yet grateful for the hint.

"Hey Sasuke, why'd you come out here anyway?"

"I felt sorry for you," Sasuke said simply as he walked into the building. Naruto frowned at that and decided not to thank him after all.

--

That night, Sasuke looked over at his blonde teammate as he lie under her blanket. All of the teams were made to sleep in the same room – and when Sakura had complained about it, the examiner, Anko if Sasuke remembered, had snorted, and said that if they could sleep close together in the wilderness, they could inside of a building.

Unfortunately for Sakura and Sasuke, the arrangement had proven to be disastrous. Naruto was… well, Naruto, and there was nothing they could do to help that. And the place wasn't a hotel, that was for sure; too often had Sasuke passed by some of the lazier ninjas who didn't bother to shower during their stay at the tower. Naruto being one of said ninjas. At least she had a nice, milder smell than the absolute funk that rolled off of some of the guys in waves…

The only light in the room was that of the moon, which barely shone in through the window. 'Huh… I can't sleep…' The blonde genin sighed as she looked around the room, and turned on her side. Sasuke was across the room on his own futon. The girl blinked as she noticed that her teammate was looking at her. He turned away as soon as she saw him, but the motion was awkward and he looked uncomfortable.

"Hey Sasuke," Naruto whispered across the room.

"Go to sleep, Naruto," He said in an annoyed voice.

"You go to sleep," She retorted, as if it was an insult. "Why were you looking at me?"

"I wasn't."

"But I saw you."

"Whatever. I was just looking over there."

"Uh-huh. Sure." Naruto smirked at her 'victory' as Sasuke mentally sighed at the absurdity of their little 'argument'.

"Just go to sleep," Sasuke turned his head to face the wall opposite of the blonde genin. After a pause between the teammates, Naruto spoke up again suddenly.

"Hey Sasuke." The other genin ignored her, but she continued on. "What's it like to have a family?" Sasuke frowned at the question, trying to figure out if Naruto was being an asshole, an idiot, or both. Deciding that Naruto was just an idiot, he chose not to take offense at the question.

"You need to learn tact."

"Huh?"

"That's not something you ask someone whose family was murdered, moron." Sasuke explained.

"What? But..." The girl seemed to have an epiphany. "Oh. Uh, sorry."

"Anyway, I wouldn't know about that sort of thing anyway. I didn't have a normal family." It was, of course, the understatement of the century. "Just go to sleep, idiot."

"Both of you shut up," came a disgruntled feminine voice from a pile of blankets on the northern side of the room.

-----

-----

Sakura looked down at the pond that she was standing on, surrounded by several clones of herself. Multitasking was helping her to improve her chakra control as well as reserves. Although she honestly hadn't expecting results too soon, the weights had gotten heavier since she'd first put them on. She could only tell because the amount of Chakra she had to put into her feet had increased a bit since her first day with Kakashi-Sensei. Sakura wiped sweat off of her brow as she remembered how long ago it was.

'It was seven days to the start of the chuunin exam…we started the survival examination on the eigth day, and it's been four days since then. Almost two weeks.' The girl shook her head. 'I can't believe it, but I've already gotten a bit better than I was…' Her mizu-bunshin suddenly collapsed and she started to walk off of the pond. As soon as she was off of the water, she turned and fell down on her bottom.

"Naruto, huh…" The girl frowned at the thought of her comrade. 'What kind of 'explosive jutsu' would get out of a snake that size?' The girl shook her head. 'Sounds as likely as that dream I had the day we went to the exams…' As the sun ever-so-slowly set over the horizon for what would be the last time before the next part in the Chuunin senbatsu shiken, the girl considered recent events. Her hand moved up to the inactive cursed seal on the back of her shoulder in remembrance of the wound she'd been given by the snake Sannin, Orochimaru. Kakashi had explained a bit about the man during the sealing, and Sakura felt that it was well worth it to have gotten the mark in the stead of Sasuke, who, she admitted, might easily be baited into going rogue for the kind of power Orochimaru could offer him. She'd told both Naruto and Sasuke a simplified version about the Sannin and how their exploits were recognized across the elemental countries.

-

"You mean we were up against someone that strong?" Naruto's eyes had widened to the size of dinner plates as Sakura relayed the information.

"Feh. He was obviously playing with us," Sasuke said with a frown. Sakura nodded.

"Kakashi-sensei said he was just trying to get the Cursed seal on to Sasuke-kun,"

"Why would he want to do that?" Naruto asked, confused. "Sasuke's already pretty corrupted, ain't he?" the boy in question snorted at that.

"He probably wanted to subjugate me. Is that not what Kakashi told you?" Sasuke asked, looking at the pink haired girl. "The Sharingan would be a powerful tool for someone like him." Sakura stared at the boy. It was a subtle twist on the truth, but more or less accurate.

"I guess that's why Sasuke-kun is the top rookie," The girl said, sticking her tongue out. Sasuke grunted and turned away.

"Subju-wha?" Naruto asked.

-

Sakura frowned as she stared off into the sun. 'Someone like me would be useless to a legendary ninja.' The girl sighed and looked at her hands. 'It makes me wonder what I'm doing here… Do I want to be as strong as Sasuke-kun?' She shook her head. 'What is this I'm feeling? I feel…' The girl looked out at the setting sun with a small frown. '…hopelessly inadequate…'

---

"Alright! It's time for the next test!" Naruto's voice rang out with energy in the early morning. Sasuke groaned from his bedding as the girl jumped up from her futon and started moving about the room

"Naruto…" Sakura's voice came from her own futon and Sasuke didn't have to open his eyes to know that the sleepy girl had put a pillow on top of her head.

"Come on you guys! Get up! We've got a test to win!"

"How can you win a test?" Sasuke growled as he sat up. 'Why couldn't you sleep in like every other day we've been here?'

"I dunno, but we're gonna do it! Watch!" The girl turned to face Sasuke in time to see him throw his pillow at her. It hit her in the face and fell to the ground. "What the heck was that for?"

"Being an idiot," Sasuke sighed as he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. Any screeching, blood curdling, banshee-screaming alarm clock had to be more pleasant than the dobe's voice on what was supposed to be a hard day.

"Hmph, well, you're a big sissy!" Sasuke ignored the jibe as he looked around the room for his sandals. "Hey! Listen to me when I'm talking to you!" Another pillow smacked into the back of Naruto's head hard enough to knock her on the ground. Sasuke stood up and walked over to the door, where they were lying strewn about, amongst a number of other things.

"How did they get over here…" the boy wondered as he put them on. They'd all had to go to sleep in their clothes, as it was the only thing they had at the tower, so the only thing he needed to put on were his sandals. "Naruto, were you messing around with my sandals?" He asked in an annoyed tone.

"Huh?" the blonde ninja looked over at him. "Oh, they were in the way. I was getting my ninja stuff ready." Sasuke rolled his eyes.

"Ninja stuff…" The boy muttered indignantly. "If you didn't leave your 'ninja stuff' lying around all over the place, then my sandals, which were right beside me, would not have been in your way," he said heatedly.

"Well excuse me, oh high-and-mighty-Uchiha! Some people are tired when they go to sleep!" Sasuke rolled his eyes at that.

"Shut up, you two," Sakura groaned out as she too unwillingly started to get ready for the day. Sasuke looked over both members of his team and sighed.

'Are we really ready for this?' The boy snorted at the idea that his team had made it further than most of the other teams, all of which had at least a year of experience, or in some cases, like Kabuto's team, six different chuunin exams to draw from. Sasuke frowned as he considered that; if Kabuto's team had comfortably made it this far, then that meant that the next part had to be what kept them from becoming chuunin. If it were just him, Sasuke was sure that he could easily succeed throughout the next part of the exam, but with these two… The boy looked over his two teammates with a sort of grim acceptance. Although Sakura was becoming more useful, and Naruto was… well… Naruto, which wasn't all _too_ bad as he was now willing to admit, neither of them were chuunin material yet.

'Here's to hoping the next test is for individuals,' he sighed.

---

As the teams of genin filed into the large room, Sasuke looked around for the silver haired genin named Kabuto. The glasses wearing ninja was easily found in the group, as oddly enough he was one of the tallest ones there. Sasuke smirked at the thought over half of the people in the next exam would be rookies like himself, or in the case of one team with at most one year of experience, but was soon standing before the older Konoha genin.

"Yes, Sasuke-kun? Can I help you?"

"You said you've taken this test six times," Sasuke said as he looked up at the older shinobi. "What usually happens at this point?" The other genin laughed lightly at the question.

"This is the part where I usually opt out," He said. "To tell the truth, I'm not really confident in my hand to hand combat skills. I'm more of a medic nin, myself, really. My teammates aren't too talented either, actually…" Sasuke smiled at the information. His hopes had been answered after all!

"So this is an individual test, then? One on one fights?"

"Yes, that's right, although I don't know if I was supposed to share that information with you," Kabuto said, repositioning the glasses on his face. "The competition doesn't look so bad this year, so I think I'll be staying."

"Hn," Sasuke frowned.

"Oh, don't take it the wrong way. You rookies are pretty good and all, but youth and enthusiasm can't always win against skill and experience,"

"The opposite also holds true," Sasuke replied as he turned and started walking. "I won't go easy on you if we have to fight."

"Of course not," Kabuto said with his winning smile, and although Sasuke did not see it he managed to hear it through the other genin's voice. The silver haired 'genin' glanced out of the corner of his eye at the sound 'jounin' that was waiting with the other teams' jounin. In truth, since Orochimaru's plan on giving the seal to Sasuke had gone awry, Kabuto was to try and get close to the girl _and_ Sasuke now.

That the girl had lived through the cursed seal had actually somewhat pleased Orochimaru – since there was a ninety percent chance of the cursed seal victim dying, it wasn't often that one came upon a potentially useful tool like her, especially by accident. Orochimaru felt, after seeing the team's affection for each other (Which had honestly surprised Kabuto) displayed in the forest of death, that Sakura could be used to sway both the Kyuubi vessel - which Orochimaru noted was also a pleasant discovery - and Sasuke, to his side.

Naruto looked around at the teams that were assembled. 'Heh heh, this exam ain't so bad! Look at how many of the people here are kids!' She grinned as she picked out all of the familiar faces. Everyone of the rookies was there, bushy brows and his team was there, Kabuto-nii-san's team was there, and of course, Gaara's team was there as well. The sound team didn't look too impressive, though. One of them had a shirt with the Kanji for "death" written on it several times and another one had a completely bandaged up face. The only even partially normal looking one was looked about as stuck up as her broody teammate. 'Hmm. I wonder what we're going to do this time?'

-

"First off, congratulations on passing the Second Exam." There was a short pause as Anko looked over the crowd of genin. They all seemed to be checking each other out as well. "And now, we will have an explanation of the third exam from Hokage-sama. Everyone listen well." The woman said something to the old man, who merely grunted in return before stepping up.

"From this point on, the third exam will begin. But before the explanation, there's one thing I want to make clear to all of you. It's about the true purpose of this exam. Why we do a joint exam with the allied nations. 'To maintain good relations with the allied nations' and 'heighten the level of the ninja'… Do not let those reasons deceive you. This 'exam', so to speak, is…" The hokage paused and removed his pipe, blowing out smoke as he did so. "…The epitome of a war between the allied nations." Some of the genin – especially the rookies, made surprised sounds at this.

"What do you mean?" Tenten spoke up in confusion.

"If we go back through history, the allied nations right now were neighboring countries that have fought each other over and over again. To avoid wasting military poart, those countries decided to choose a place to fight, that is the beginning of the chuunin selection exam."

"Why do we have to do this?" Naruto asked. "We're not doing this to select Chuunin?"

"This exam _does_ exam those who are worth of the chuunin title. But on the other hand, it's also a place where ninja fight and carry their country's dignity. In this third exam, daimyo and famous feople from various countries who may be potential clients are invited here as guests. And daimyo from countries with hidden villages and ninja leasers will see your battles. If there's a significant difference in power, the strong country will be flooded with jobs. If a country is seen as weak, their jobs will decrease. And at the same time, countries are able to show how their village has grown and possess excellent military power to the adjacent countries. In other words, they can put foreign pressure on them." Kiba growled at that and stepped up.

"And that's why we're asking, 'Why the hell do we have to fight in a life or death battle?'" Without missing a beat, Sarutobi continued.

"A country's power is the village's power. A village's power is the shinobi's power. And a shinobi's true power is only born in life-or-death battle. This exam is also a place to show of the ninja power of one's country. Since this is an exam where you fight with your life on the line, it has a meaning, and because of this your predecessors have fought and dreamed of being in the chuunin exam."

"But why do you say it is to promote good relationships?"

"I told you not to get confused by that in the beginning," the old man admonished slightly. "The custom of shaving one's life and fighting to maintain balance… that is a 'good relation' in the world of the shinobi. This is a life-or-death battle for your dream and your village's dignity." Silence reigned for a few seconds.

"Heh. I get it now," Naruto said, arms crossed.

"Whatever. Just tell us the details of this life-or-death exam." Naruto glanced in Gaara's direction.

"Then I will now begin the explanation of the third exam, but…" A shinobi suddenly dropped down before the group of genin, kneeling before the Hokage.

"Excuse me, Hokage-sama. I, Gekkou Hayate, the judge, will explain."

"Please do."

"Everyone, it's nice to meet you." The man coughed and turned his head to face the group of genin. "Everyone, before the third exam…" The man coughed again, but continued speaking. "…there is something I want you to do. Fight in some preliminary matches to see who gets to advance to the third exam's main battle."

"Preliminary matches?"

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"Er, sensei, I don't understand what you mean about 'preliminary matches'… why can't we just start the third exam with the remaining examinees?"

"Eh. In this case, it may have been that the first and second exams were too easy. I don't know. But there are too many examinees left. According to regulations, we must decrease the number of participants for the third exam. As previously mentioned by Hokage-sama, there are many guests for the third exam, so we can not just have a lot of matches. We are limited on time as well, so, those who aren't feeling well-" The man suddenly broke out in a fit of coughing, earning concerned looks from the assembled genin. "…Excuse me. If anyone wants to quit after hearing the explanation, please let me know as soon as possible. The preliminary matches will begin immediately."

"Right now?!" Some of the genin mumbled at that.

"But we just got through with the second exam…" Naruto grinned to herself at that.

'Heh heh, not us! We've been getting ready for this! Go Team Naruto!'

"Ah, I forgot to mention this, but you will have one-on-one matches from here on out. So please withdraw if you wish." When no one made to leave, he resumed speaking, with minimal coughing. "Well then, let's begin the preliminary matches. These one-on-one matches are designed to simulate real combat. Since we have twenty one people, we will have ten matches. The winners will be able to advance to the third exam. One of you will advance automatically." There was some whispering among the genin at that last bit.

"There are no rules. You will fight until the other person dies, is knocked out, or admits defeat. If you do not want to die, please give up immediately. However, if I judge that the match is over, I may stop you to prevent any unnecessary deaths. The thing that will hold your destiny…" The woman behind Hayate turned her head and said something that the genin couldn't here. Up on the wall before them, one of the blue panels opened to reveal a black space. "…Will be this. This electric bulletin board will randomly display the names of two fighters for each match. Without further ado, I will now display the names for the first match."

All of the genin turned their attention to the board, which started to randomly cycle through names faster than their eyes could see, stopping with two.

Akimichi Chouji Vs. Uzumaki Naruto.

-----


	6. Chapter 6

'Pressure… pressure…' Naruto looked around at all of the people and bit her lip. All of the teams were watching her now, including the foreign ones. 'Gotta stay cool… sharp! Oh man, they're all looking at me!' Naruto's face lit up with a false, 'cool' smirk, the same that she had seen Sasuke wearing before.

She knew because she had practiced it in the mirror before.

"Oi, Chouji," Naruto called out with some bravado. "Are you sure you want to do this?" The genin standing before her looked at her warily in a way he never had before. "If you come at me with the intent to hurt me, I won't show you any mercy, regardless of our association in the past." The girl grinned in her mind. Throwing that big word in there had to be a bonus!

Meanwhile, in the stands, the rest of team seven was rightly astonished by her knowledge of the words 'association' and 'regardless' as well as their proper usage.

As it was, Chouji had started shaking, slightly. In his mind, Kabuto's words from six days prior kept repeating over and over.

"_Completed an A Ranked Mission…"_

"_High level ninja…"_

Images of Naruto, with a cold expression, being surrounded by adult enemy ninja before suddenly jumping about, dealing out death quickly and efficiently, or holding off all of the previous hokages _at the same time_, or using some kind of high powered instant kill jutsu, or single handedly fighting off a giant snake the size of Hokage tower (The fact that he'd actually heard that the last one was true did not help his confidence) flashed through his mind, and it frightened him.

Dearly.

"Don't listen to him," Ino called out from above. "He graduated at the bottom of the class, remember? C'mon Chouji, you're better than that!" Chouji blinked in surprise at the positive support from his team mate. "You'd better be!" And sighed.

'She's right though. I don't know what happened since Naruto became a genin, but he was the worst before!' With new resolve, Chouji Akimichi's expression hardened to one of determination.

But that resolve was partially crushed when Naruto grinned at his expression and took a real, bona-fide taijutsu stance in preparation for his attack.

Naruto did not know Taijutsu upon exiting the academy. At all. He was a joke in everything but his own jokes, ironically enough. The boy could pull a prank, Chouji gave him that much. But Naruto, upon graduating (Which Shikamaru had assured him was definitely a fluke, even though he didn't know what had happened), was not a ninja.

The Naruto that stood before him seemed more like a blonde Sasuke than anything else. And given that the boy was on the same team, and Sasuke probably wouldn't tolerate someone as horrible as Naruto perverting his image through association, it was possible.

"If both combatants are ready, you may begin." The proctor coughed a few times before stepping away.

"This'll be fun!" The blonde called out much to Chouji's dismay. "Let's go! Kage Bunshin no jutsu!" She formed the hand seal and through several puffs of smoke, was surrounded by four shadow clones. They all charged Chouji, who at the last minute hardened his own resolve.

"I give up!" the genin said in a steely voice. All of the Narutos stumbled over themselves and fell forward, rolling until they were at Chouji's feet. They all groaned and one of them quickly stood up, scowling.

"What?! What do you mean you give up!? I wanted to fight!" She yelled right in his face.

"The fight is over," Hayate said, before coughing once. "Uzumaki Naruto is the winner." Naruto's jaw dropped as the plump member of team 10 shrugged and walked away. Upstairs, Ino was shell-shocked.

"B-but… Naruto?! You lost to Naruto!? How could you just give up!?"

"Calm down… You don't need us to advance anymore," Shikamaru sighed. "It's one on one. If you really want to impress Sasuke so bad, make chuunin by yourself," The girl's eyes lit up at the reminder.

"I will!"

"Remember, it's a life and death battle," Shikamaru said, looking up at the black panel that was going to be showing the next combatants.

"Sorry," Chouji apologized as he finally made it back to the group.

"It's okay, you probably made the right decision," Shikamaru sighed.

Meanwhile, further along the line, Naruto was already back with her group.

"I can't believe he forfeited on me!" the girl moaned. "I wanted to try using a new attack I came up with!" Kakashi sighed at her display.

'And here I thought she was using psychological warfare… That whole spiel was unintentionally intimidating…'

-

Down below, Umino Iruka sighed in relief. Although it was unlikely, he didn't want Naruto to go beserk and end up killing Chouji. It sounded unreasonable the more he thought about it, but if it had happened twice before, then he didn't know what to think. He knew that Naruto was not to blame for the incidents – Naruto, was after all, an innocent little twelve year old girl, but if the Kyuubi could influence her then anything could happen. Kakashi had assured him that both incidents coincided with the theory that her life had to be in some kind of danger, but Iruka hadn't wanted to take any chances.

-

"Hokage-Sama," Iruka said in a grave voice. "What do you think Orochimaru could be planning?" The two were in the Hokage's personal office, with Sarutobi sitting behind his desk, his face grim from the bombshell that the chuunin had just dropped on him.

"It's obvious that he wants to sway young Sasuke to his side," the old man said. "His aim is to learn every Jutsu in the world. With the Sharingan, he could do so, if he managed to attain his goal of immortality."

"Are you saying that he wants Sasuke to learn every Jutsu and teach it to him?" The chuunin asked, confused. The old man chuckled and shook his head at that.

"He wants the Sharingan for himself." The younger ninja looked confused at that. "It would be much like Kakashi's case, although…" The old man seemed confused at something, while Iruka was shocked at the revelation that the Sannin wanted to butcher one of his students and harvest their eyes.

"We have to stop him!" The teacher declared. "We must stop the Chuunin exam and use this opportunity to-"

"Actually, the exam will continue," Sarutobi said, interrupting the chuunin before he could get too far. Iruka was stunned once more at that revelation.

"What?! Why?!"

"Think about it Iruka. Isn't something strange about the way Orochimaru handled that encounter?" Sarutobi asked. Iruka didn't reply for a while, his mind racing to come up with an answer. The man looked confused as he replied.

"If he wanted the Sharingan for himself, why didn't he just try to kidnap Sasuke?" The old man nodded.

"He has something riding on Sasuke's success. I'm not sure what it could be, and at the same time, if we stop the exam here, it would be disastrous. For now, we will just have to assume he needs Sasuke alive and well for the moment, and continue with things as they are, perhaps keep an eye on his actions." The chuunin nodded in agreement, distressed as he was. There was nothing they could do about the situation; calling off the exam might have been exactly what Orochimaru wanted anyway. The man was just bent on causing Konoha as much pain and strife as possible, it seemed.

"There's another thing," Iruka said. "It's about Naruto."

"Hmm? Yes?"

"Sasuke told me that she used the Kyuubi's Chakra." The Hokage looked at Iruka, amused.

"I am aware of that situation," he said simply. "Kakashi has kept me well informed on all three of his students' achievements."

"R-really?" Iruka fumbled for words in his confusion. "B-but… th-then why… why are you letting her participate in the exam? Doesn't this mean that you need to renew the seal?" The old man shook his head and smiled.

"Naruto only seems to have access to it when her life is in danger. Kakashi explained it to her as soon as he was able to."

"But… what if it's more than that? What if she releases its energy accidentally?"

"Rest assured, Iruka, that if such a thing is to happen, then I will do all in my power to save her and those around her. For now, we don't need to worry about it."

"But…" Iruka sighed. "Hokage-sama, Sasuke told me that… Because of the Kyuubi, Naruto killed someone. Isn't that… alarming?" The Hokage sighed.

"Kakashi told me that even though that boy is almost certainly dead, Naruto believes without a doubt that he is alive. It happened when she thought her enemy had killed both Sasuke and Sakura, when in truth they were merely incapacitated. Apparently, she knocked him off of a high bridge, but his body was not recovered. Kakashi believes he drowned, but does not tell Naruto this."

"So… Naruto is in denial, then," Iruka said, sadly. The hokage nodded gravely.

"It would be best if she was not told the reality of the situation. It would only hurt her at this point."

-

The teacher looked up over at the area where team seven were waiting around. The blonde girl looked to be a bit devastated over the fact that she wasn't going to fight, but otherwise normal.

'It's for the best,' The teacher sighed. 'Hokage-sama seems to think that a catastrophe is unlikely, but… that is the nature of an accident…'

Meanwhile, upstairs, Sakura blinked at the two names that had appeared on the electronic board.

'Ino, huh…' The pink haired girl jumped over the rail before anyone else even acknowledged the two names. Naruto blinked and then looked over at the board.

"Eh? All right, go Sakura-chan!" The blonde girl called out when she finally noticed the board. Sasuke remained uninterested in the affair, looking around the room at the foreign teams.

'Hmm…' The prodigy took in each of the other teams and smirked. 'Perhaps I'll be matched up with that Gaara person… I can't wait to see how these people fight. You can't be weak and have made it this far…' He finally looked down at the ground, where the next fight was going to take place and frowned. '…But this will hardly be a fight…I wonder how that other girl even got here…' The boy sighed and leaned on the railing. Down below, Sakura stood impatiently as Ino slowly walked over to her own starting position.

"Sakura?" Ino had a concerned expression on her face as she stopped in front of her ex-friend/rival. The pink haired girl had a neutral expression on her face as she looked over the other girl.

"Ino… fight me for real." The blonde blinked at the simple statement and frowned when the other girl took a Taijutsu stance.

'Something is wrong with her. What… what happened?' the blonde thought as she took her own stance.

"You may begin," Hayate said as he stood back. In a blur, Sakura was moving. The blonde was surprised as she found herself quickly on the defensive. Sakura pressed an attack that she had not been capable of during their time at the academy.

'She's gotten stronger,' the blonde girl thought as she jumped back. 'Has she been training with Sasuke-kun?' Her eyes glanced up at the black haired boy on the other girl's team, but only for a second. When she next saw her opponent, the other girl was rushing at her with a kunai in hand. Ino quickly pulled out her own and blocked the charge, locking their blades. When Sakura's other fist suddenly flew into her gut, the other girl recoiled a bit and jumped back. 'That… she's strong… and fast…' the girl's face was contorted in slight pain as her opponent stood there.

'Sakura..?'

"Ino…" The other girl started walking towards her, with the same neutral expression. "…You'll lose at this rate, won't you?"

'She's right,' The blonde thought as she scowled. "Hmph. You might have gotten better but it still won't be enough!" Deciding to take the initiative, Ino ran straight at her. To her surprise, Sakura jumped back to dodge and started forming hand seals.

"Suiton: Sui Gyōshuku no Jutsu!" The pink haired girl smirked as her opponent ran after her. The blonde girl faltered as the air around her seemed to get colder.

'Suiton?! She knows a Suiton jutsu?' Ino narrowed her eyes as she kept running at her opponent. 'But a water condensing Jutsu won't do much on its own. I've got to stop her from doing whatever she has planned!' With a determined look, she picked up her speed. Sakura jumped to the side to dodge the other girl's punch, but Ino recovered quickly enough to spin with her momentum and kick her opponent in the chest, sending her sprawling away. Sakura recovered as she rolled and quickly formed the same handseals.

"Suiton: Sui Gyōshuku no Jutsu!" the girl called out as she landed. Ino frowned and ran towards her again, reaching down into a pouch and retrieving several shuriken. Sakura started running away this time, forming handseals as she went.

"Oh no you don't!" the blonde haired girl cried as she threw the shuriken at her opponent. The other girl had to interrupt the jutsu to dodge them, and Ino smirked as she continued running at her opponent. Sakura smiled as she ran at her opponent interrupted the charge with her own attack. Ino, who had expected her to keep running and doing Suiton, was surprised long enough to allow a single, powerful uppercut to connect with her chin that lifted her friend off of her feet. The blonde's chin exploded with pain as she flew up and into the air. Her own momentum had added force to the attack.

"Sui Gyōshuku no Jutsu!" the pink haired girl called out. Eyes wide, Ino landed flat on her back and slid a few feet before recovering.

'That hurt a lot,' she thought as she winced. The blonde girl rubbed her chin as she sat up. 'I've got to be more careful than this. She's trying to be unpredictable!' she groaned at the pain and stood up.

"Sui Gyōshuku no Jutsu!" Ino turned her head to the source of the yell and stood up faster.

"It's getting humid in here," Ino muttered as she frowned. 'And cold…' Her eyes widened as she realized what was happening, and she instantly started running towards her opponent. 'If it gets too humid, she'll be able to do other water jutsus,' she hardened her expression and quickly formed handseals of her own. Not bothering to call out the name of her simple bunshin. Two mirror images of her appeared flanking her by the side, and each of the Inos drew out a Kunai.

'I'll show you a real Bunshin no Jutsu in a minute, Ino,' Sakura called out the name of her jutsu again. "Sui Gyōshuku no Jutsu!" The girl smirked as the three clones converged on her and merely jumped up into the air. The two clones vanished, and the Ino that had approached her from the right was had to slow down to a stop. She turned and threw her Kunai in the air, but Sakura twisted her body and it sailed by harmlessly. The pink haired girl's hands raced through the handseals again. "Sui Gyōshuku no Jutsu!" She called out as she reached her apex in the air. As she started falling, she smirked. 'Just one more should do it,' She thought as she landed. Ino had already turned and started running towards where she would land.

Upstairs, Naruto was staring at the fight in confusion.

"Hey hey, Kakashi-sensei, what's Sakura-chan doing?"

"She's making water out of air," Kakashi dumbed down the explanation for his subordinate.

"You can do that?" the blonde asked in awe as she turned around.

"It doesn't seem to be very effective," Sasuke commented as he watched. "She's done it five times already, and still hasn't used a different technique."

"It's a very low level Jutsu," Kakashi admitted. "She doesn't have the chakra necessary to do stronger ones and keep fighting comfortably." After watching the pink haired girl dodge the other one a few more times, Sasuke spoke up again.

"Hn…Maybe she'll win after all." Both Kakashi and Naruto looked over at the black haired boy.

"What, you doubted Sakura-chan?" The blonde demanded. Sasuke snorted.

"I figured they'd tie..."

"That might have been so if Sakura hadn't been training at all since you all graduated. Remember that she's been working just as hard as you two since that mission to wave country," Kakashi reminded him.

"Hn." The Uchiha prodigy smirked. "Let's see what she does."

Down below, Sakura smirked, finished with the final handseal. "Sui Gyōshuku no Jutsu!" She didn't bother to dodge Ino's powerful kick to the gut that sent her flying backwards, and instead ignored the pain as best as she could, recovering in the air and managing to right herself in the air enough to land on both feet. 'I'll just take the Chakra out of my weights and confuse her,' she thought as her friend charged her again with a determined look on her face.

Sakura ejected the chakra from her weights and stood up as Ino ran at her again.

'I've got to do more damage than I have been,' Ino thought as she leapt at Sakura with a burst of speed. "You won't win here!"

"Suiton: Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu!" Ino was not prepared to see another Sakura form out of the air. There was only one clone, but she wasn't immediately familiar with how Mizu Bunshin functioned. Both Sakuras smirked as they each jumped aside from the attack. Ino turned around and looked from side to side as the two Sakuras started running side by side. One of them suddenly jumped back, and the other one smirked as she charged towards the blonde. The one that had jumped back was forming handseals again.

"Suiton: Sui Gyōshuku no Jutsu!" the one that had jumped back called out. Ino's eyes widened as the bunshin that charged her brought down her kunai to cut her. The blonde blocked it with her own kunai, and found that the one that had attacked her was solid.

'Mizu Bunshin are solid then,' she frowned as she found herself at a disadvantage. 'I can't let this one distract me, I've got to stop Sakura from making more,' She thought as the two locked blades pushed against each other. The Sakura before her was grinning at her. 'The clone seems to be faster too for some reason.'

"You won't win here," she said as she jumped away. Ino stumbled forward at the sudden disappearance of opposition, but smirked.

"Solid bunshin only have a fraction of the real one's strength," the blonde smirked. "I'll deal with you and go after the real you!" She drew out several shuriken and threw them at the girl in front of her. The pink haired girl was too fast, though, and dodged the attack easily. Ino followed up with a punch that the other girl managed to dodge by jumping back, and the blonde followed up with another attack. She frowned as the mizu bunshin kept dodging her attacks. 'I'll just have to ignore you then.' The blonde thought as she suddenly abandoned her attacks and immediately started after the real Sakura.

The mizu bunshin had other ideas, though, and Ino instinctively turned her head in time to see four shuriken flying at her. She mentally cursed and rolled forward, allowing them to pass overhead. When she saw that the bunshin was running after her, she scowled and drew another Kunai. Instead of pursuing her new target, she pulled a 180 and sprang towards the bunshin, slashing the kunai wildly in an attempt to disperse it with one hit. When a long red line appeared along the bunshin's arm, her eyes widened in surprise, while the girl before her smirked.

"Mizu Bunshin can do jutsu too," Sakura said as she punched her shocked rival in the nose. Ino was lifted off of her feet again from the force of the punch, landing flat on her back. 'That was for cutting me,' She winced. 'Damn, that hurts!' she looked at her forearm. It was bleeding more than she figured it would be. She winced, ignoring the immense pain, and formed handseals again. "Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu!" She cried out. Another clone formed seemingly out of the air. It immediately sprang into action, imitating the one before it.

'Damn!' Ino scowled as she quickly stood up. 'I've got to do something fast, or they'll overwhelm me!' With two Mizu bunshin condensing air, it would decrease the time that it took to make them by half. 'If I can just kill one of them she'll be back where she started.' She rolled backwards and leapt straight up into the air, tossing several shuriken at Sakura as she did so. Sakura merely dodged them and smirked as she started forming her own handseals.

"Sui Gyōshuku no Jutsu!" Ino's eyes widened again.

'If all three of them..!' She immediately took as many shuriken and Kunai as she could hold and threw them all at the nearest Sakura. They all hit, and the Mizu Bunshin promptly dispersed into a puddle of water. Ino formed handseals again, and three of her own normal bunshin appeared at her sides. The two pairs split up, one going after each Sakura. Sakura frowned while she ran over towards the puddle of water and finished making her own handseals.

"Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu!" she called out. Two more mizu bunshin appeared – one from the puddle, and one from the condensation in the air. 'I should be running low on Chakra. I'll have to finish it with the next move,' Sakura thought as all three of her started running towards the lone water clone. The two Inos that had attacked her vanished, and her eyes widened. 'Then the real Ino is over there!' She thought as she looked over at her water clone. The clone looked confused as it looked from Ino to Ino, as they had all assumed the real Ino would attack the real Sakura.

'She must know I'm low on Chakra then. But…' Sakura thought as she ran over towards the clone. One of the Inos vanished and the real blonde easily dragged her kunai through the bunshin, turning it into puddle of water. Ino turned on her and smirked. 'That's okay, my plan can still work,' She thought as her two still functioning water clones charged ahead of her at Ino. They double teamed her, and Ino had to block each of their attacks with a kunai in each hand. She was able to quickly counter by punching both of them in the gut, easily dispersing them.

"You're getting tired if your new Mizu Bunshin are that slow," Ino taunted as she ran at her foe.

"Maybe," the pink haired girl smiled back as she formed a few handseals. "Suirō no Jutsu!" she called up. All three of the puddles of water and the remaining condensation in the air all converged on the blonde girl charging at her, turning into a spherical water prison. Sakura put up a smirk full of false confidence as her hand shot into the water prison. 'I can't hold this for more than a minute or so, but that should be long enough to convince her to give up.'

Up in the stands, Kakashi continued watching with an indifferent look on his face, while in truth he was surprised at the choice in tactics.

'Sakura does not have access to that much of her Chakra. Something happened. It might be the seal…' He blinked his single eye, but maintained an unimpressed look. 'Did I do something wrong?' Down below, Sakura started talking.

"You know, you'll drown if you stay in there long enough," Sakura said with a smirk.

"Since when could you do something like this?!" Ino demanded. 'I can't move!'

"That's a secret," Sakura said with a wink.

"Damn it!" Ino scowled at the other girl. 'If I could just move my hands..!'

"You have two choices at this point. Either forfeit and lose, or drown and lose."

'I can't believe this!' Ino growled at the smug tone the other kunoichi was using. 'She's… she's won?! No… I have to try something… I know, I'll distract her!'

"Hey Sakura," the blonde started. "You have a hickey on your neck! Did Naruto give that to you?"

"What?" Sakura blinked at the other girl's words, then tried to look down at her neck. "Gross! No way!"

"You don't see it? It's right there!"

"I don't have a hickey!"

"Yes you do! It's big and red!"

"Do not!"

"I didn't know you and Naruto were that serious! That's pretty adult of you!"

"I do not have a hickey!" Sakura snapped. "And your plan won't work! I'm not gonna drop this thing!"

"Plan? What plan? I'm talking about that big nasty love bite on your neck that Naruto gave you," The blonde said.

"Oh please, like I'd ever let Naruto give me a hickey, or even close enough to do that." Sakura laughed. "Nice try, but it won't work!"

Up in the stands, the other members of team seven were watching with various reactions.

"Sakura-chan… you're so mean…"

"That ridiculous conversation aside, it looks like Sakura has won." Sasuke leaned over the railing with a slight smile on his face. Kakashi glanced over at him

'That's true, but she shouldn't have. She's held the water prison jutsu for almost two minutes now. She shouldn't have even been able to bring one up at all after those mizu bunshin.'

Down below, the two combatants were still standing still in their fight.

'I… I can't take it anymore,' Ino winced as her lungs started to burn. "I- I give up!" She yelled out. The water prison almost instantly collapsed, and the blonde dropped to the floor. Sakura smiled and held her hand down, which Ino gracefully accepted. "You've gotten a lot better, forehead." Two medic-nins walked onto the field towards each of the two kunoichi.

"I've been constantly training for a little while," Sakura explained. Ino frowned; constantly training? Even though Sakura had only barely won, if she kept up at her pace then there would eventually be a clear difference between the two.

The medic-nin gave Sakura's arm a once over and then held up a glowing blue hand. The long gash from Ino's attack with the kunai closed up in a matter of seconds.

'I guess it's lucky I didn't get too deep with that one,' Ino thought as the medic finished tending the wound. Ino's medic merely looked at her and left her alone after deciding she didn't need any medical attention. 'If I want to be able to compare to her, then I'm going to have to step up my own training! Stupid Asuma-sensei has been holding us back this whole time!' The girl glared up at her own teacher from the ground as she and Sakura started walking towards the stairs. She was livid with her mentor by the time she made it up the stairs.

"Woo! Great job, Sakura-chan!" Naruto cheered loud enough for everyone in the large area to hear them. Some of the other ninjas laughed at the display, and Gaara spared team seven a glance as he made his way down the stairs. "The next fighters are Gaara and some loser named Misami," Naruto said, turning her attention to the fight.

"I can't wait to see how he fights," Sasuke smirked and his eyes glinted. "Gaara should prove to be an interesting fighter, at least." He folded his arms and leaned over the railing. Naruto was paying as much attention as her broody black haired team mate. Kakashi walked over to Sakura just as Ino walked over to Asuma and started yelling at him.

"Ugh," Sakura moaned just as Kakashi stopped beside her. "Why do I feel so exhausted all of a sudden?"

"Let me see your curse seal," Kakashi asked without any preamble. The girl blinked at that and looked up at him with a tired expression.

"But I didn't feel anything," She said.

"I have a feeling though," He insisted, to which she shrugged and turned to face away from him. He pulled her shirt back far enough to reveal the sealed curse mark. Or what should have been the three black marks and seal. In its place was perfectly unmarred skin. Kakashi nearly reeled back with surprise at the disappearance of the symbol.

'It… it can't be… _gone_?' He narrowed his eye in thought as he looked down at the girl. "Sakura, are you aware how much chakra you had to use to pull off what you did?"

"Yes," She nodded. "I've been building up my chakra since I woke up in the tower. I noticed that the weights have been working twice over, because whenever the weight in them increases the amount of Chakra I have to put into my feet to stay afloat. That and also making as many Mizu Bunshin as I can allows me to exert myself without straining," She stepped away and leaned back against the wall. "But I've been exhausted from training so hard so suddenly. These past few weeks have been… painful," she admitted.

"Sasuke has lived like that for most of his life. Naruto's pranks were a good source of exercise too," Kakashi explained. 'The seal is gone and her chakra reserves have nearly doubled at the very least. Re-sealing it would be useless because there is nothing to seal. I'll have to think about this… Maybe when she's rested, get her to mold some chakra and see if it resurfaces. For now, there's nothing I can do.'

'Even still, her chakra reserves went up unusually fast. Water clones and the water prison together seem to be the upper limit, though. She'll have to train a lot more before she's at the same level as Sasuke and Naruto.' He regarded her with his one eye for a few more moments as she slowly sank down to the ground. She was clearly not interested in the fight that was unfolding down below.

"That guy's using sand as a weapon," Sasuke muttered.

Kakashi turned his attention down to the fight and was surprised to notice that the red haired ninja from suna was simply standing around as the ninja from Kabuto's team relentlessly attacked him with a savage fervor that showed he was used to using his limbs in battle.

'Now that's a weird Jutsu... both of them.'

The man's strikes were all being blocked by a wall of sand, so he changed his strategy. The man's limbs started to stretch and contort as he attempted attacks and combos that should have been impossible. Only after a few minutes of this failing to achieve anything did he finally relent, panting heavily.

"Is that it?" The sand that had been valiantly protecting Gaara hovered low to the ground. More sand escaped from the huge gourd on his back and swirled around him aimlessly, mixing with the other sand. The ninja from suna sighed and the sand shot forth as one. The enemy ninja had only a moment of surprise before he was completely overtaken by the sand.

It quickly enveloped one of his legs and took on an amorphous tendril-like shape, then the sand tentacle lifted the man up into the air before it slammed him into the ground with great force. The appendage didn't stop and instead proceeded to rise again before slamming him into the wall. The process was repeated several times before the tendril lazily tossed the Konoha ninja away, only to have him land, unmoving, right at the feet of the proctor.

The sand quickly flew back into its container, and Gaara started walking away before his victory was even pronounced.

"Winner: Sabaku no Gaara." Naruto whistled as the red haired genin vanished in a swirl of sand to reappear on the upper level across from them.

"Wow. Hey Kakashi-sensei, think you could teach me something like that?" Kakashi looked down at the blonde genin.

"Sure. It's not too hard. Just shunshin no jutsu. I'll show all of you later."

"See! Look at that!" The sudden commotion surprised team seven. They and various other ninja in the room turned to face the source of the noise. Ino was glaring at her jounin sensei with her arms crossed, and Asuma had a sheepish expression on his face. "Naruto just asked _once_ for _his_ sensei to teach them something, and they _all_ get to learn it! You're useless!" Shikamaru groaned, but Chouji just ignored the outburst.

"Che… Ino, you're making a scene…" Though he did agree that Asuma was useless in that regard, the man wasn't all that bad and they got to do whatever they wanted around him. Most of the other ninja had already started paying attention to the next fight.

"I don't care!" Asuma sighed at that.

"Fine. I'll teach you guys something when we're done here…" Naruto grinned and turned to look up at her own sensei.

"Hey-hey, Kakashi-sensei. Aren't you glad you decided to stop being lazy?" Kakashi ignored the blonde and conveniently pointed out who was going to be fighting.

"It's that kid from Gai's team. The expert Taijutsu user." Sasuke blinked and turned his own attention to the fighters.

"Rock Lee." The boy grinned. "So he's the 'near Jounin level' taijutsu user you were talking about? Somehow, I'm not surprised."

"He's fighting dog breath," Naruto noticed. "That's too bad, I'd hoped to see Kiba in the third event."

"It's unfortunate for mutt face," Sasuke agreed. "But that's the purpose of this whole thing. Weeding out the unfit."

"I HEARD YOU IDIOTS!" Kiba shouted, turning to face them from his position on the ground below.

"Heh, that's right. He's got those doggy senses," Naruto stuck out her tongue. "Go get 'em, boy!" Sasuke shook his head and sighed.

"It should be an informative fight, anyway."

"You gonna be watching thick brows?"

"Of course. You would do well to do so too." Down below, Lee was facing an annoyed and disgruntled Kiba.

"I hope we can have a productive and enjoyable fight."

"Che. You ain't much," The dog user spat on the ground and Akamaru barked at their opponent.

"We will see," Lee assumed his trademark stance with a smile.

"If the combatants are ready, you may begin," Hayate announced.

-

A few minutes into the fight, Akamaru had to take on the form of his master. The two yelled out the name of a technique and launched at Lee in twin cyclones, only for the green clothed genin to meet their attack with his own in the form of a combo that involved him jumping and spinning around to kick them. The cyclones were both interrupted, and each attacker was sent flying away from the force of the kicks.

"Yup, looks like dog-face got the short end of the stick," Naruto yawned. "I can't see him winning here."

"It's only been going for a minute or two," Sasuke said, frowning at his team mate. "No one asked for your commentary." Naruto clammed up at that.

"S-shut up, stupid Sasuke!"

Down below, Kiba was in a state of shock. 'H-he stopped our Gatsuuga?' The genin sat up and rubbed his head, where he'd been hit. 'Damn it! How can he be so strong?'

"I would advise you to give up. Your attacks are ineffective," Lee said. 'I had hoped for a more interesting fight. I hope I can spur him on with this. He doesn't seem like the type to give up.' Kiba growled at that and quickly stood up.

"Give up! No way!" The genin growled. "I'm definitely gonna kick your ass now!" Lee smiled at that. Kiba snarled as he retrieved a soldier pill from somewhere on his person and ran over to his transformed dog, giving both himself and the dog the strength booster. "I'm gonna beat you into the ground! Akamaru! Let's go!"

Upstairs, Naruto watched with only partial interest as the two continued their battle. Kiba and Akamaru flew at Lee with enhanced speed, but the older genin barely seemed to notice.

"Even with the beast transformation, he can't match the other guy's speed," Naruto said with a whistle. "This Lee guy gets better and better!" Down in the arena, Kiba snarled and glared at Naruto.

"Shut up!" Kiba he yelled up at the stands.

"You should keep your mind on the fight," Lee said. Kiba didn't even have a second to turn his head and respond before the bobbed headed genin's fists crashed to his and Akamaru's faces with a dissatisfied look on his own. Kiba and Akamaru slid back a bit, then turned and snarled at Lee.

"You shut up too!" Kiba and Akamaru lunged at Lee faster than they had been able to before. "Gatsuuga!" The two immediately started rotating at a high speed, and Lee finally smiled as his attackers neared him.

"I see you are finally giving your best. I will respond in kind!" Lee suddenly blurred off to the side, leaving his would-be attackers to crash into the ground. The two were able to avoid crashing by rebounding off the ground and changing directions. The twin cyclones immediately flew at Lee again, who had only moved a short distance away.

'I'm glad I got to see you at your best,' Lee smirked. 'But it's time to end this.' He jumped at the twin cyclones, lifting up a leg, then bringing it down on one of them in a powerful axe kick. The Tsuuga was abruptly interrupted as Lee's kick spiked his opponent down to the ground even faster than they had been moving for their attack.

The Kiba lying on the ground dispersed in a puff of smoke, leaving an unmoving Akamaru in his place.

"Akamaru!" Kiba canceled his attack and landed before quickly running over to his dog. The injured dog didn't make any sounds other than heavy breathing. "What... how did he do that?!"

"I've always wondered what a kicked puppy looked like." Naruto said up in the stands. Kiba glared at her for a moment before turning over to face Lee, who had assumed his trademark stance.

"Damn it!" Kiba reached into his pouch and retrieved a few spheres, then threw them down on the ground. The smoke bombs quickly exploded, sending out a thick and heavy smoky haze over half of the arena. Lee simply jumped out of the range of the smoke and waited.

'What could he be planning?' Lee watched the smoke closely while he waited. In the smoke, the dog user would have an advantage of smell over sight. It wouldn't be enough to win, but it would draw out the match. Just standing there wasn't helping either, though.

Suddenly, a lone kunai flew out of the smoke at Lee. The green clothed genin frowned at the simple attack and raised an arm to block it. As the Kunai flew at him, he noticed something attached to it at the last moment, and instead jumped back just as the paper tag exploded. Several more Kunai landed all around Lee and he jumped up into the air just as they all exploded as well.

"Got you!" Lee turned to the side just in time to see Kiba preparing to punch him in the face. With his vastly superior speed, he easily caught the punch.

"If you had remained silent, you might have," Lee admonished the slightly younger male, who scowled. He squeezed Kiba's fist, then the scowl turned into a cringe.

"OW! That hurts you bastard!" Lee chuckled and punched his opponent in the chin once as they both landed on the ground, then let go of his fist. The dog user slumped over, unmoving.

"Clean knockout." Sasuke said. "Lee had total control of that match from the beginning."

"No one asked for your commentary," Naruto said in a childish, mocking voice.

"So?" Sasuke smirked at her, causing the blonde to growl at him.

"I hope you lose so much,"

"You won't get off that easy, dobe," Sasuke said, looking back at the two fighters below. "Who's up next?" Sasuke and Naruto both looked over at the black board as it quickly cycled through the various names, before stopping with Kankuro and Kinuta Dosu. Both of the guys were from foreign teams, so she had no idea of either of their capabilities.

"It'd be a good idea to pay close attention to this fight," Kakashi said as the two foreign-nin walked down the stairs to the battlefield. "Since they're both foreign, they likely have jutsu that you haven't seen before. It'd also help inform us of what Otogakure is capable of, since the ones here are supposed to be their top genin."

"Of course," Sasuke said.

"And I would refrain from using the Sharingan too much since you still have your own fight to worry about."

"Duly noted,"

"And I would stop trying to sound like a stuck-up know it all." Naruto suggested.

"Hm?" Sasuke looked over at Naruto. "Did you say something?" Naruto blinked at that, but repeated herself anyway.

"I _said_, 'I would stop trying to sound like a know it all'!" Sasuke almost rolled his eyes at the girl's reaction, but remained neutral.

"Okay," he said with a shrug.

"What?" Naruto blinked. "Just like that?"

"I don't have to _try_ to sound like I know everything," Sasuke shrugged again.

"You!"

"Quiet, the fight's starting." Naruto scowled at him but decided to watch the fight below anyway. Kankuro took the huge thing on his back off and set it on the ground. It started when the bandaged up guy threw a punch at his opponent that was easily dodged and countered. The two squared off for a moment, but they quickly rejoined the fight. "Hmm, they're not so bad. But I figured they'd both have some special trick to them or something," the blonde said with a frown.

"They both do, you just haven't noticed it yet." The two boys of team seven looked at their sensei, who was reading his little orange book again.

"You're not even watching the fight." Sasuke said with a frown. Kakashi didn't say anything to that, and both genin went back to looking at the fight below, carefully watching for anything out of the ordinary. The bandaged up one jumped jumped away from his opponent and the two watched each other for a moment, before the bandaged up one finally ran at his opponent, holding up his hands. Sasuke blinked as Dosu stood there with a surprised look on his face for a moment. "What's he doing?"

"I think I heard a weird noise... but other than that..."

"A weird noise?" Sasuke glanced over at the girl then returned his focus to the fight below. 'I don't understand. What's going on down there?' Kankuro attacked Dosu again, this time with a Kunai, and the sound genin blocked with the odd bracers on his arms. The two bounced away from each other for a moment, before re-engaging. This time, when Kankuro neared Dosu, he jumped to the side instead of attacking. The sound genin stumbled long enough for Kankuro to shove his kunai in the other genin's side.

"Hey, that's not fair!" Naruto shouted. "He stabbed that guy!"

"Shut up. This is a life or death battle." Sasuke reminded her. "Stabbing is allowed."

"Oh yeah..."

"Dumbass," Sasuke turned away from the blonde and looked down at the fight.

"Hey!" She glared at him.

"Sasuke… It would help if you explained why Naruto was being a dumbass."

"Hey!" Naruto glared at her sensei this time.

"That's your job," Sasuke snorted.

"You took it when you called her a dumbass. Tell or I'm pulling you from the exam."

"What?" Sasuke looked over at his teacher. "You can't be serious."

"Tell." Sasuke sighed and looked over at Naruto.

"There is no being 'cheap' with Ninja, idiot. A ninja will do whatever they can to complete their mission. A little cut like that should be nothing to a Ninja anyway. If that other guy can't keep going, it's because of his own incompetence." Naruto frowned at his words, but they all looked down at the fight again. "It looks like its over anyway." Dosu was lying slumped on the ground, unconscious and bleeding from his side as Kankuro stood over him.

"But I thought this was to promote peace or something..." Naruto muttered.

"The winner is Kankuro." The sand ninja laughed to himself as he grabbed his bandaged up bundle and strapped it up to his back, then walked back up the stairs.

"I missed the end," Sasuke said with a frown.

"Serves you right," Naruto huffed and turned away from him. Sasuke ignored her and looked over at the electric blackboard. On it were two more names.

"Yakushi Kabuto Vs. Temari." Sasuke frowned. "His teammate was pathetic, especially for an older genin. If he's as bad as his teammate, I can see why he's been opting out for the past few years."

"I wouldn't bet on that," Kakashi said. "You and Naruto are on very different skill levels yourselves. He could easily be ten times better than his teammate." Sasuke grunted an acknowledgement.

"Hey! Damn it, I'm right here!" Naruto stomped her foot once. "Stop talking about me like I'm somewhere else!"

"Okay," Sasuke looked over at Naruto. "Naruto, since I'm ten times better than you, it's possible that Kabuto is t-"

"Shut up, Shut up! You're not better than me!"

"Sure I am," Sasuke said with a grin.

"Oh yeah!? You wanna fight?!"

"We'll get our fight in the third exam," Sasuke said with a smirk. "If you make it to the finals, that is." Naruto huffed again.

"You haven't even gotten through the preliminaries yet," Naruto said with a smirk. "And I had Chouji shaking in his boots!"

"That's not saying much," Sasuke said as he turned to look at the fight below. It was already underway. Kabuto had some how managed to get Temari on the defensive of a relentless assault; each of his blows missed a vital organ, instead tagging whatever she managed to block with. The girl jumped back to put some space between them and opened up the huge fan.

"Hm… Wait a minute, I know him." Sasuke didn't dare look at his sensei lest he miss the rest of the fight, while Naruto turned around to look up at the older man.

"You know Kabuto-nii-san Kakashi-sensei?"

"He was the one who stopped you two before," Kakashi said, "but I knew about him before then, yes. He's the son of a medic-nin."

"That Kunoichi seems to have stopped," Sasuke said. Both Kakashi and Naruto looked down at the fighters below. The kunoichi had dropped her giant fan and her arms were hanging limp by her sides as she slumped over.

"What happened?!" Naruto demanded.

"He must have disabled her arms when she kept blocking him." Sasuke muttered.

"I think it's more than that," Kakashi said as the blonde girl down in the arena fell forward, landing on her weapon. "She's done."

"What?! How'd it happen so fast?!" Naruto stared at the girl, shock clear on her face. "Is Kabuto-nii-san really that good?"

"Looks like it," Kakashi said. "His father being a medic-nin has paid off then."

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked, looking at her sensei.

"He used pressure points to knock her out while she thought she was blocking and dodging his real attacks." Kakashi explained as the proctor announced Kabuto to be the winner after surveying Temari's prone body. "She didn't even get a chance to fight back. He's definitely Chuunin material. It's a shame his lack of confidence has held him back so long," The silver haired ninja went back to reading his little orange book again. 'It's strange… That boy was supposed to be one of the worst ninja the leaf has had in a while, but I guess he has some real confidence issues.'

"Oh… wow, that's great! Awesome, Kabuto-nii-san!" Kabuto gave a smile and wave in return to the girl's cheering.

"The next fight is Aburame Shino against Tenten," Hayate called out amidst his distinct coughing, "If the two mentioned would please come down, we may begin the next match."

"Hmm, that's that girl that was on thick-brows' team," Naruto noticed.

"And Shino from our class," Sasuke said.

"Ah…" Both turned around and noticed that Sakura was standing up and stretching. "That's better."

"You feel rested up already?" Kakashi asked, looking at her.

"Not really, but I don't feel like sleeping anymore." She said, walking over to the rail. "What did I miss?"

"Kabuto-nii-san just won his fight, Kiba lost to thick brows, those other two sand guys won their fights, and Shino is about to fight thick-brows' girlfriend," Naruto said with a shrug. "It's just about halfway over."

"They're starting," Sasuke announced, and the blonde quickly turned to look down at the

"Oh," Sakura looked around as she counted the remaining fighters. 'Hmm… I don't think Sasuke-kun will lose to any of them…' She looked down at the fight below with a bored expression as she waited for it to finish.

--

Nearly fifteen minutes later, and after Tenten and Hyuuga Neji had won their fights against Aburame Shino and Akado Yoroi, the names Hyuuga Hinata and Abumi Zaku appeared on the electric board.

"I guess that means I'm last," Sasuke said with a grunt. He looked at the other two fighters in the arena; the only other ones who hadn't fought yet were Shikamaru and the last sound ninja. He smirked at Shikamaru, who frowned back at him.

"That Neji guy won pretty fast," Naruto said with a frown. "He's related to Hinata-chan, right?"

"Yeah," Sakura nodded.

"Hinata-chan huh," Naruto mused, remembering the first day she'd arrived at the tower. After that first encounter, Hinata had been friendly with her for the rest of their stay in the tower. "All right! You can do it, Hinata-chan!" Hinata looked over at her with a small smile on her face that turned to a look of determination as she walked down the steps.

"That girl's a Hyuuga too…" Kakashi noted. "I wonder if she can stand up to the other one's, though."

"You mean the guy who just fought, right?" Sasuke asked. "I'd never seen the Hyuuga style in a real combat situation before. I wonder how our classmate will handle it though." Sasuke muttered the last bit to himself. 'She seems too shy to be a real Ninja. Her lack of self confidence will hold her back.'

"She'll do just fine! You watch! She'll win in less than five minutes!" Hinata blushed at the attention Naruto's words got her as she made her way down the stairs. When she was at the center of the arena, she looked up at the other ninja and almost cringed.

"Feh. You won't even last five minutes just _looking_ at me," he sneered.

'I can do this. My friends believe in me…' Hinata repeated the words in her mind like a mantra as the proctor took stock of them both.

'Oh boy, I hope she's really ready for this.' He coughed a few times and waited a little while longer. "Well then, if both contestants are ready, you may begin," He took a few slow steps back.

"Heh." Zaku sneered at the girl again. "Just give up, kid. You're not ready for this."

"N-no. I c-can do this."

"Kid," the sound ninja started, "You're shaking! There's no way in hell you're ready for this!"

"I can do this!"

"Yeah! You can do it, Hinata-chan!" Hinata blushed in embarrassment and Zaku laughed out loud.

"Hahaha! Okay! Fine." Zaku raised his hands. "I already gave you a chance to give up. I'm not going to wait any longer! Zankuuha!" He pointed both of his palms at Hinata and there was a burst of air from his hands that knocked her clear off her feet. She back from the force of the intense winds, landing on her back. When the attack was over, Zaku sneered again. "Are you done already?" The dark haired girl started to stand very slowly when Zaku started walking towards her. "Like I said, kid. You ain't ready for this."

Hinata said nothing as she struggled to stand up, with her head hanging low.

"Heh heh heh..." Zaku held out his arms again, and it was then that Hinata suddenly lunged at him. The girl was surprisingly swift, and he already barely had time to move, but when she raised her head and looked him in the face, he froze. "What the _hell_!?" The veins around the Hyuuga Heiress' eyes were bulging, and it gave her a disturbing appearance.

Hinata moved quickly, using her family's style to close the tenketsu in his arms. He jumped away from her, kicking her in the face at the same time. Zaku landed roughly and Hinata fell back from the force of the kick.

"You bitch!" Zaku scowled at the white-eyed girl as she stood up, rubbing her mouth. Her lip was bleeding, to which he allowed a small smile, but she still had that insane look on her face. 'I can't believe I fell for something like that!' He growled at her and held his arms up. "Zankuuha!"

The Air cutting blast never came, and Zaku was almost immediately able to realize why as the Hyuuga girl ran at him again. 'My arms... I can't use any chakra in my arms!' He scowled at the girl again when she was finally close enough to attack.

He blocked her initial strikes to the chest and tried to punch her in the face. Hinata dodged his fist and struck him in the chest a few times, but had to pull away when he tried to attack her again. She stood there silently watching him.

'What the hell is she doing to me...' Zaku clutched his chest with one hand as he warily watched the insane looking genin.

"Please give up. I...I don't w-want to hurt you anymore."

Zaku scowled at her.

"Yeah right," He spat to the side and looked down at the girl. 'She's fast... but she hasn't been directly hitting me at all. What the hell is this girl's trick?' He frowned as he thought over the previous match. 'It was the same with that older kid. They have the same family name, too, and those creepy eyes. Is it some family trick?'

"If you won't give up, I'll force you to," she said with some determination. Zaku quickly stepped back in time to dodge her next, vicious combo attack and carefully watched what she did as he did so.

'Some kind of weird martial arts. She's not trying to hit me full on, so it must be doing something else... That's it! The chakra in my arms and this weird attack!' Zaku jumped up and over the girl, swinging his foot down as he flipped forward. Hinata knelt on the ground and he missed completely. He completed his flip and landed, pulling shuriken from his holster and launching them at her. The girl twisted her body to avoid all of them, simultaneously turning her body around to face him.

Zaku looked at her in shock.

'How did she dodge those?!' He was given no time to think about it, as Hinata sprang at him once more, attacking with the strange martial arts style that didn't have any obvious effect. Zaku felt a sudden surge of pain in his chest, followed by a palm thrust to the solar plexus that knocked him clear off his feet.

Hinata stared down at the sound genin who lay on the ground, eyes unfocused and clutching his heart with his left hand. He made a gurgling noise and coughed, blood freely pouring from his mouth. Hinata looked down at the genin in worry.

'Oh no! I did too much!' She watched in horror as the sound genin started choking on his own blood. "He... He needs help! Medic!" She ran over to her opponent's side and Hayate blinked. Zaku made no move to fight back as she tried to administer some first aid, so he did the only thing he could.

"Hyuuga Hinata is the winner of this fight." He said with a cough. Three medics ran into the arena before he finished his announcement and the sound genin was carried off by a stretcher. 'That girl's the next clan head of the Hyuuga? I don't believe it.' He chuckled, but it turned into a coughing fit. 'Should make for some interesting times.'

Up in the stands, Naruto was reigning in her cheers with a nervous look.

"Er, well, I guess she won, but she don't look too happy," the blonde said.

"She's too nice to be a ninja," Sasuke said with a frown. "That relative of hers was a better example of what a Ninja should be. He seemed much better with their style, too."

"Hinata-chan, too nice to be a Ninja? Hmph. That's just her way of the Ninja. She doesn't have to be ruthless, or bloodthirsty,"

"Administering first-aid to an enemy is stupid," Sasuke snorted. "If she were to do that in a real battle, she'd get a kunai in her heart as thanks,"

"Tch." Naruto crossed her arms and looked away. "I don't think so."

"Think so or not, that's how it'd work," Sasuke said, turning to look at the black board. He smirked at the names written on it. "So, it's finally my turn, huh?" Naruto whipped her head over to face the names on the board.

"Uchiha Sasuke versus Tsuchi Kin," She read. Her expression turned into a grin. "That sound girl, then. Hmph, I feel sorry for her, since both her teammates already lost,"

"And now so will she," Sasuke said as he walked away from the other members of his team.

"You'd better win," Naruto said, crossing her arms. "Or I'll lose all respect for you!"

'You can do it, Sasuke-kun,' Sakura said, watching her teammate walk down the stairs.

'Let's see what you do now, Sasuke,' Kakashi said, looking up from his book.

The two fighters made their way to the arena, and Sasuke looked up at Kin with a smirk on his face, his Sharingan already activated.

"So you're the Uchiha, huh," the girl smirked at him. "This should be fun."

"Hn," Sasuke's smirk wasn't affected in the slightest.

"If the two of you are ready, you may begin," Hayate announced, stepping back.

The oto-nin immediately snapped into action, launching a pair of senbon at Sasuke. Sasuke stood there with a bored look on his face as the senbon neared him.

At the last second, he raised his hand and caught the two needles between his fingers.

"Senbon, huh..." He looked down at them as if inspecting them for something. 'That other guy's senbon flew much faster and accurate than that- wait. Bells?' He frowned. 'And a string...' He blinked as the string was pulled, and the bells' ringing noise echoed throughout his head. He winced and nearly fell to his knees from the sudden pain. 'That sound…'

"Heh… everyone who hears the sound of those bells ends up like that," The sound kunoichi said. Sasuke frowned at the smug tone and looked at her.

"What are you talking about…"

"It's simple, the vibration from those bells works specifically on your eardrum and has an effect on your brain. The effect comes out as a genjutsu…" The kunoichi sneered as her voice echoed and a number of mirror images appeared all around her. "You can't even move, can you? And with a bloodline like yours, you could say that I'm the worst possible choice for an opponent for you."

"So, because it's a genjutsu based on sound rather than sight, it would be impossible for me to 'see' through it with the Sharingan," Sasuke looked over all of the illusions.

"That's right," the girl sneered.

"I see." Sasuke grinned at the girl, which threw her off. "Well then, let me show you something." Sasuke slowly grabbed the wires attached to the two bells and bit down on them.

"He can still move at all?" She frowned at him. When he made his first handseal, she scowled. 'I can't let him do whatever he's got planned!' She quickly retrieved three more senbon and tossed them all at Sasuke. The boy grunted and moved as best he could to dodge them, but they all managed to hit him. 'Damn it!' He ignored them and called out the name of his Jutsu just as she pulled out five more senbon.

"Katon: Ryuuka no Jutsu!" As he called out the name of his attack, fire blazed out from his mouth across the wire, straight towards the real Kin.

"What?!" The girl looked at the quickly approaching fire in shock, but her entire body was overcome by flames before she could react. Sasuke chuckled and dropped the two senbon from his mouth.

"You _know_, with a strategy like yours, one could say that I'm the worst possible choice for an opponent for you." The girl fell over as the flames died away and Sasuke smirked as her illusions all vanished. He tossed all of the senbon back at her and started walking away. Hayate glanced at him before looking over at Kin. After a few moments, it was clear that she was down for the count.

"Winner: Uchiha Sasuke."

"Woo! Go Sasuke!"

"Yeah! Sasuke-kun's the best!"

Sasuke rolled his eyes at the cheering that came from above. Even the dobe was cheering for him, in her obscenely loud voice. When he made it back to his team, Naruto spoke up.

"Who's up next?"

"No one," Sakura said. "Shikamaru is the only fighter left, so it would be unfair for him to fight anyone who has already fought."

"Maybe, but it would account for the unpredictable nature of missions," Kakashi said. "You guys of all people should know that." Naruto and Sakura looked at him with worried expressions, while Sasuke merely stood watching the proctors below.

"Does that mean that one of the previous winners will be randomly selected to fight him?" Sakura asked.

"Hmph. I'm ready for it," Sasuke said with a smirk.

"Go volunteer or something then," Naruto snorted. Sasuke glared at her, but did not speak. "Yeah, thought so."

"Dobe-"

"Okay, you two," Kakashi said. "That's enough. Save the couple's spat for later." Sakura giggled while both Naruto and Sasuke glared at him. Just then, Hayate made his announcement.

"Because there is only one contestant left, the preliminary fighting will end here!" Team Seven looked down at the ninja.

"See? What did I tell you?" Sakura stuck her tongue out and Kakashi rolled his eyes.

"Let's just go down there," Sasuke said.

-

The eleven genin stood before the Hokage and a group of Chuunin below

"To all of you who earned the right to contend in the third round, congratulations." Hayate coughed. "Well then, Hokage-sama, if you would please…"

"Of course." Sarutobi looked over all the genin that were standing before him. 'Two whole leaf teams along with three other leaf genin and two sand genin. It seems we had some talented rookies this year…' Sarutobi smiled at the genin. "Well then, I would like to begin the explanation for the real third exams. The main event is going to be seen by everybody, so all of you will be representing your countries' various abilities. It is because of this that each of you is to fight with nothing held back, and also the reason that the finals will be held one month from now."

"We're not going to do it now?" Naruto asked.

"No. This month long break is to inform the various daimyo and ninja leaders of this event, as well as allow you genin to prepare for the upcoming fights."

"What the hell do you mean by that?" Kankuro demanded.

"Hmm… Basically, this is the time for you all to get to know your enemy and yourself. You will have time to analyze the data you accumulated during the trial periods, and train yourselves so that you have a better chance of winning against your opponents. This is because there were those of you who have shown everything that they can do, and there are those who have been injured in a fight against stronger opponents. The month long wait is to make everything fair."

'Fair?' Sasuke frowned. 'It sounds more like you're setting us up to be a spectacle for all those daimyo.'

"With that said, there's something we have to do before you guys can go off right now." The genin all looked over at Anko, who was holding a box with paper in it. "Each one of you take one of the slips of paper in here," She announced. "I'll come around, so wait your turn." She started at one end of the line and walked by each genin, stopping only long enough for them to reach into the box and take a slip of paper.

Naruto pulled hers out and looked at it. 'Six…' Not a minute later, Anko finished making her way around the genin and returned to her spot. Naruto looked up at her and blinked at the absence of the big box from before.

"Now, call out your numbers." Sarutobi listened as each of the genin said their numbers and the scarred chuunin beside him started writing something down on a notepad. "All right then. Ibiki, show them the line up for the finals tournament." Several of the genin looked surprised at the announcement of a tournament.

"You mean there's gonna be more one on one fighting?" Shikamaru groaned. "Damn it…" Ibiki ignored him as he held up the notepad he'd been working on for everyone to see. Naruto looked the chart over and blinked.

(1) Uchiha Sasuke  
(2) Haruno Sakura  
(3) Nara Shikamaru  
(4) Tenten  
(5) Hyuuga Hinata  
(6) Uzumaki Naruto  
(7) Hyuuga Neji  
(8) Rock Lee  
(9) Gaara  
(10) Kankuro  
(11) Kabuto

'Sasuke and Sakura-chan are gonna be fighting right away? That's…' Naruto was speechless at the chart.

"There's still a lot of contestants," Ibiki said. "It would have been ideal if we could have taken away three more. But this will work too."

Kankuro winced at the match up.

"Uh, is there any way that the matches can be changed?"

"No." Ibiki smiled at him, and Kankuro looked over at his younger brother. Gaara ignored him in favor of a bored expression directed at the chart.

'Oh boy… I wonder if I should just forfeit right now,' The sand genin thought. 'All that work getting here, down the drain…'

Neji Hyuuga stared up at the list with a frown.

'Hmm… I can hardly believe that these pairings are random.' He looked over the gathered Chuunin.

"Hey, wait a minute." All of the ninja gathered there turned to look at Shikamaru. "Since this is a tournament, does that mean that only one of us will make Chuunin? It doesn't make sense."

"Oh no, not at all," Sarutobi said. "There are going to be judges, including myself, Kazekage-dono, the Daimyo of various countries that make mission requests, and other Ninja leaders, all watching the final test. Throughout the tournament, those judges will be evaluating your abilities. Those judged to have the abilities required of a Chuunin will be able to become a Chuunin even if they lose their first match." Naruto looked up at him, tilting her head to the side.

"Does that mean that everyone can become a Chuunin?"

"Yes. But it also means that no one may become a Chuunin. But to advance in the tournament, this means that you will have more chances to appeal to the judges. Do you understand, Shikamaru-kun?" Shikamaru just stood there with his usual frown in place. "Well then, thanks for all the effort you exerted in these trials! You're all dismissed until a month from now!"


	7. Chapter 7

Sasuke looked at his two teammates as they gathered the ninja gear they'd brought with them into the forest.

"I'll be waiting downstairs," Kakashi said from the door of their shared room before he left.

"We'll be right out," Sakura said as she lifted up her futon and grabbed a hairbrush from under it. Sasuke gave the girl a strained look when she put it in the pouch that contained her ninja gear.

"You keep a hairbrush with you at all times?" He demanded. She stopped what she was doing and turned to look at him.

"Yeah?"

"Isn't that a waste of space?"

"No?" Sasuke didn't respond to that and she went back to looking around the room for more of her personal belongings.

"Whatever," He finally said, turning and exiting the room. He walked down the hall, but stopped just outside one of the other room's doors when he heard someone speaking.

"You were supposed to drop out." Sasuke recognized the voice as belonging to the red haired Gaara. "Instead, you were matched up with Temari and now she is disqualified from the finals."

"Things have changed a little, that's all," Kabuto's voice responded. Sasuke blinked.

'This is the room the suna-ninja were staying in. What's he doing here? How does he know them?'

"The overall plan only calls for you three to be present in Konoha when it begins. You don't all need to be active contestants for this. Temari can just say she's there to cheer her brothers on." There was a pause before Gaara answered.

"...I see. That is acceptable." the Suna shinobi said.

"If that's all, then I'll be leaving," Kabuto said. "Since I am to be staying in Konoha, please give Kazekage-dono my regards." Sasuke blinked at the mention of the sand village's leader. The Konoha genin walked out of the room, but abruptly stopped upon seeing Sasuke to the side of the door. "Hello," He said with a smile and a nod. Sasuke gave him a look of disdain in response. Kabuto merely kept smiling and turned to walk the other way.

'Plan..?' Sasuke turned around and started walking. 'Why would he be talking to those three..?'

--

Team seven walked along a road that lead from the Forest of Death back to more civilized parts of Konoha.

"All right! We won! We won!" Sasuke and Sakura looked at their blonde teammate in exasperation.

"You can stop cheering now," the pink haired girl said. "You've been yelling and screaming ever since we left the tower."

"Yeah, dobe. I'm sure the whole world knows by now. Give it a rest."

"Hmph! You two just need to get into it more!" Naruto pumped a fist into the air. "We're the best! We're number one! Come on guys!"

"Hm," Sasuke sighed and shook his head. 'Well, it's true that we're the only rookie team to have every member make it to the finals. The only other whole team to make it to the finals was Rock Lee's. Speaking of which…' Sasuke turned his head and looked up at his sensei. "Kakashi. Is there any chance I could see how Lee's team trains? They're the only other team to have made it all through the finals."

"That might not be a bad idea… It would certainly help to inspire you guys for sure."

"Hey! We're all hard workers here! Unlike you!" Naruto frowned at the silver haired Jounin. "Speaking of which, you still haven't taught me any jutsu! But Sakura-chan and Sasuke-bastard have learned something already!"

"Hmm," Kakashi sighed. "I guess I can teach you something…"

"Heh, finally! You better make it a good one too!"

"Sure, sure," Kakashi waved it off. "I'll figure something out for all of you." He looked at the three of them and smirked. "But one thing's for certain. You guys can't train together until the month is over, since you're going to be fighting each other." The three genin stopped walking and looked at each other with that sudden realization. Sasuke and Naruto locked gazes and smirked.

"You'd better be ready, dobe."

"You're the one who's gonna get blown away, idiot," Naruto said, turning away. "By my new super jutsu!"

"Hmph. One technique won't be enough to win a fight for you."

"Oh yeah? All it'll take is one hit for you to go down!" Sakura frowned as the two started their banter again and ran to catch up with Kakashi, who hadn't stopped walking.

"Kakashi-sensei, is there anything that I can learn too?" Kakashi looked at her.

"Sure there is… But first, there's the matter of genjutsu training. You were judged to be a genjutsu type from the beginning, so you will probably want to learn more than just Ninjutsu and Taijutsu for this tournament…"

"That's right, we haven't started working with Genjutsu yet. Why not?"

"A friend said she'd help with that, and she's only just finished working out what would help you three,"

"Really? Does that mean we'll be training as a team for genjutsu?" She asked with a frown.

"No, not until the tournament is over," Kakashi said. "Since the three of you are going to be fighting each other, you'll all need to start keeping secrets at this point. Of course, that doesn't mean that you guys can't hang out together,"

"I know that, but most of the time should be spent training anyway, right?"

"Of course," Kakashi nodded. "But you shouldn't push yourself too hard. I noticed that during your stay in the tower, you overworked yourself." They stopped walking and he looked down at her. "It's admirable that you want to improve so much, but your body can't take the big, sudden jump in time spent training, especially with your eating habits." The girl looked a bit worried at that, and she looked up at him. "You should know that with your increased training, you can eat more than you do now. You'll be working it off anyway. Try eating more like the other two on your team."

"I have been feeling a bit hungrier recently," She admitted, looking at the ground. "But I didn't know if it was safe…"

"Sakura." She looked at him again. "You won't be a match for Sasuke if you keep trying to adhere to that popular image. You're a bit thin as it is."

"Sasuke-kun likes bigger girls?" She asked with a worried expression.

"Um… no. I meant the fight," Kakashi said. She froze up at that and he blinked. "What, you did see that you were going to be fighting him in the very beginning, didn't you?" The girl was silent. "…Didn't you?"

"Yes… But… I…" Kakashi sighed.

"Listen, Sakura. This is your chance to get Sasuke to notice you." The girl blinked. "You know how Sasuke respects powerful individuals, don't you?" When she nodded, he continued. "If you can beat Sasuke, he'll definitely recognize you as a person. I hate to say it, but right now, he sees you as a flunky…"

Sakura was at a loss.

'Defeat… Sasuke-kun?'

"Heyyy! What's the big idea leaving us behind!" Kakashi and Sakura both turned around and noticed Naruto running towards them with Sasuke walking behind her. The blonde stopped when she reached them.

"Hmm? I didn't notice," Kakashi said. "If you want, I can slow down for you old ladies."

"What did you call me!" Naruto tried to tackle her sensei, but he held her away with one hand.

"Kakashi," Sasuke said as he finally caught up to them, "What are we going to be doing from now on to the end of the month? You must have a plan."

"Ah, well…" Kakashi looked over his three students. "You're right, I had a plan made out for the three of you already, since I knew you'd succeed," He said with a smirk. "As I just told Sakura, the three of you are going to be incorporating Genjutsu basics in your individual training. Each of you will also be sparring with me in your Taijutsu, and as I told Naruto, I will teach you all some new Ninjutsu as well."

"Really?! It's a promise!?"

"Well, I can't guarantee, with your various learning speeds and preferences, that you'll all learn everything I have planned for you, but that shouldn't matter anyway."

"I'll learn everything you can teach me in one day!" Naruto declared. "Watch me!"

"Hmph," Sasuke shook his head and looked up at his sensei. "Well, what do you have planned for today?"

"Nothing, actually. It was supposed to start the day after tomorrow, in case you were all injured in the fights today, but the only one who's had an exhausting fight today is Sakura."

"Yeah! I didn't even get to fight at all!" Naruto said with a frown. "Let's start the training today! Today!"

"Well…" Kakashi looked over the three students. "But I had plans…"

"What kind of plans?" Sasuke demanded. "Something more important than training us?"

"Well you see… There was… a date…"

"Liar," Naruto crossed her arms and scowled at him. "You just want to get out of teaching! Who would wanna go out on a date with you?"

"Hey now," Kakashi said with a frown. "I'm fairly impressive, you know. Can't keep the girls away."

"Your hands do not count," Sasuke said with a sneer. Naruto and Sakura sniggered at that.

"Oh, all of you ganging up on your poor teacher…" The silver haired jounin made a big showing of looking at the ground pathetically. "And to think that I was considering treating you guys to lunch and then dinner later on…" He turned away from them.

"Hey wait a minute! Now that you say that, you're actually a pretty cool guy!"

"Yeah," Sasuke agreed. "Forget what we said."

"It's too late," Kakashi said in as pitiful a tone he could manage. "I'll never forget those hurtful words. Goodbye… forever!"

"Hey wait!" Naruto started towards the silver haired jounin, but he vanished in a puff of smoke. "Damn!" Sakura giggled at the two and shook her head.

"Great going, dobe," Sasuke snorted.

"Hey! You're the one who said something about hands not counting!"

"Oh, you two," They both looked at Sakura, who was still laughing. "We can do something fun on our own, can't we? We don't need Kakashi-sensei,"

"That's right! We have money too!" Naruto announced.

"You'll treat us then?" Sasuke asked, looking at the blonde.

"No way! Pay for yourself!"

"What about me, Naruto-kun?" Sakura asked in an innocent voice. "You wouldn't leave me to starve all on my own, would you?"

"U-uh…W-well…"

"Heh…" Sasuke shook his head and shoved his hands in his pockets. "Let's just go. We'll figure something out."

"Yeah! We're almost chuunin! We're adults!" Naruto thumped her chest. Sakura blinked at the blatant evasion, but shrugged it off.

"I guess." The three resumed their trek along the road.

"So who wants ramen!"

"Pft, no one wants ramen," Sasuke snorted.

"I do! Come on guys, its ramen!"

"Ramen is too unhealthy though." Sakura frowned.

"But it's the best! Come on, just try it out atleast!"

"Fine, but just this once," the pink haired girl sighed.

"Sakura's right though, dobe," Sasuke started. "You need to eat something other than Ramen, and not just once in a while."

"They put chopped vegetables in cup ramen though!"

"A handful of carrots and peas are _not _going to promote healthy growth. And I've seen you take them out, too!" Sakura crossed her arms. "You seriously need to learn better eating habits. You might even be as strong and smart as Sasuke-kun if you bothered eating right!"

"Sasuke's not that great!"

In a nearby tree, Kakashi smirked as they walked away.

'They'll be fine.' The silver haired jounin vanished in another puff of smoke.

-

Sasuke slurped the last of his second ramen bowl with a neutral look on his face, trying his best to ignore the obnoxiously loud slurping beside him.

"Ahh! That's the best!"

The Uchiha sighed and pushed the bowl away, then looked over at the blonde, who was sitting back with a full stomach and twenty empty bowls off to the side.

'That will always amaze me,' He shook his head. 'Where the hell does she put it all?' The girl patted her distended belly and belched, then sighed in contentment. 'And so disgusting, too… how can _that_ be a woman?' He looked over at Sakura, who had had three bowls herself. The fourth bowl was halfway empty, but the pink haired girl had set her head on the counter and was groaning. "Sakura? Are you okay?"

"Try to eat more like the others, he says…" Sakura mumbled something else under her breath. "Ah… it hurts so much…"

"Maybe you should try eating a little less next time." Sasuke said. Sakura glared at him when he said that and he shrugged. 'Whatever.' He looked over at Naruto again, who looked ready to snooze the day away. "Naruto. What else do you want to do?"

"Hmm, I dunno…" The girl looked up at the ceiling. "Let's go see if Konohamaru is free!"

"Konohamaru… The Hokage's descendant, right?" Sasuke asked. 'I'd rather train, but it wouldn't hurt to rest for a day.' He looked over at Sakura. "What do you think?"

"I guess…" She groaned.

"Well then, let's go!" Naruto stood up and got out her wallet, then pulled out some money. "Thanks, occhan!" She handed it to the old man who accepted it with a smile as the other two got up.

"You three take care now," He said.

"Hnn," Sasuke rolled his eyes and stood up. "So where would those kids be right now anyway?"

"They should be just getting out of the academy, right?" Sakura suggested. Sasuke turned around and looked at the clock inside the ramen stand.

"Yeah."

-

Naruto looked over the sea of kids who were getting out of school with a hand over her eyes. Spotting the one she wanted, she grinned.

"Hey, Konohamaru!" The Hokage's descendant blinked upon hearing his name called and turned to look at the source. The boy grinned the moment he saw team seven and started running to them.

"Naruto-nii-chan! You're back!" The academy student skid to a stop and looked up at her in awe. "You really stayed in the forest of death for five days and nights!"

"Yeah, that's right!" Naruto grinned. "I got into a fight with a snake the size of Hokage Mountain!"

"Wooow! Really?!"

"That's right! I kicked his ass too!" Konohamaru looked a little suspicious at that.

"No way! You're lying!"

"Nope! I fought a big snake, didn't I, you guys?" Naruto turned and looked at her teammates.

"I guess," Sasuke said with a shrug. Naruto looked down at Konohamaru and grinned again.

"Yeah, see!"

"He's just saying that! There's no way you fought a snake that big!"

"I did too!"

"I don't believe you!"

Sasuke and Sakura looked at each other as Naruto and Konohamaru kept arguing about whether or not the blonde had actually beaten a snake the size of Hokage Mountain, and sighed. Sasuke looked around the thinning crowd in boredom, searching for any familiar faces. Some of the academy instructors were outside watching the younger students, while others were greeted by their parents and siblings before being escorted home.

"Big brother! They taught us some new shuriken exercises today!" A young academy student ran over to his brother. The older boy laughed and turned away.

"Okay. You can show me when we get home." They both started walking, hand in hand, with the younger boy chattering away.

Sasuke frowned at the scene and there was a sudden heavy sensation in his chest.

'Things will never be like that for me again.'

"Sasuke?" Sasuke jolted at Sakura's voice and looked over at the girl. "Are you okay?"

"…got so scared that he forfeited right away!" The sounds and chattering around Sasuke started up again and Sasuke looked over at Sakura before nodding. Sakura looked at him for a few seconds before turning to look at something else.

"Yeah right! You're not that scary!" Konohamaru.

"You've got to remember that this guy had just learned that I fought off a snake the size of Hokage Mountain," Naruto. "There was no way he could beat me!"

"Hey, is that…" Sasuke blinked and looked over at Sakura. "Hinata! Over here!" Sasuke turned his gaze over to the direction that Sakura was looking in. Sure enough, the white eyed genin was standing there – along with a younger girl who had the same eyes. The girl noticed them and smiled weakly as she started walking over to them.

"Hey! It is Hinata-chan!" Naruto had noticed the other girl as soon as Sakura called out her name.

"H-hello, Naruto-kun,"

"Heh! So how's Kiba?" Naruto asked with a grin.

"Oh, he's fine… He woke up when we were leaving the tower, it wasn't anything serious. Akamaru's doing just fine too," She said with a smile.

"Heh, cool! So, you think he'll be free for sparring later?" Naruto asked. Hinata blinked at that.

"S-sparring? I-I'm not sure…"

"What do you mean, Naruto?" Sakura asked, looking at the blonde.

"Well, I figured it'd be good to have a new temporary workout partner since onii-chan can't play with me anymore," Naruto said with a grin. Sasuke scowled while Hinata and Sakura both giggled at it.

"Stop calling me that."

"Sister, who are these people?" Everyone looked down at the younger girl who was standing beside Hinata.

"Oh, Hanabi-chan from my class!" Konohamaru blinked, then looked up at Hinata, who nodded.

"Th-this is Hanabi, my younger sister," The girl said. Everyone looked at the younger girl.

"You know the Hokage's descendant?" Hanabi asked, looking at team seven.

"Hey! It's Konohamaru, not 'The Hokage's Descendant'!"

"Yeah, I know 'im," Naruto said with a grin. "So you're in his class huh? What kind of stuff you guys working on right now?"

"Iruka-sensei has us working on chakra control exercises!" Konohamaru shouted out before Hanabi could respond. "It's stuff I already know, so it's really boring. I was able to do that tree climbing thing you showed me already!"

"Oh really? Show me then!" Naruto demanded. Konohamaru looked around before spotting a tree and ran over to it.

"Okay! Watch me!" He kept running until he was running up the tree, but stopped and fell down after the fourth step. Naruto started laughing and Konohamaru stood up and gave the tree an angry look.

"They're really active," Hinata said with a smile. Sasuke and Sakura looked over at her.

"Well, Naruto always has too much energy," Sakura sighed. She looked down at the younger girl beside Hinata, who was watching Naruto and Konohamaru. "So, you're both from the Hyuuga clan… That means you both have the Byakugan," Sakura said. Sasuke and the two sisters looked at her. "Sometimes I wish I was born from some famous clan with a kekkei genkai…"

"Oh…" Hinata's smile faded. "It's… It's not that great."

"I can attest to that." Sasuke frowned.

"Well," Sakura glanced over at Sasuke and then looked at Hinata. "Well…I know why Sasuke-kun would say it's not great, but I can't imagine it's been that bad for you, Hinata." Sasuke noticed that Hinata looked troubled and decided to answer for her.

"The Byakugan is a very well known, very valuable bloodline," Sasuke said. "I remember reading that enemy villages have tried to kidnap Hyuuga family members, dead or alive, to try and reproduce or copy it. It's dangerous."

"Y-yes," Hinata nodded.

"The Sharingan too, right?" Sakura asked, looking over at Sasuke, who nodded.

'My Sharingan is especially valuable now…'

"Even still," Sakura said with a sigh. "If I had something like that, maybe I wouldn't be so…" Sasuke raised a brow when she trailed off.

"There are perfectly good Ninja without bloodlines," Sasuke said. "Naruto…" He paused. 'Well, Naruto has something unique too, but,' "…Is an okay ninja, even though he doesn't have any bloodlines or clan jutsu."

"I guess," Sakura agreed. She blinked suddenly, realizing something. "Say, what kind of family does Naruto come from, anyway? I know he's an orphan from the Kyuubi's attack all those years ago, but does he not know anything about his family? Where does his last name come from?"

"I'd ask him that," Sasuke said with a shrug.

"We c-could ask someone else, someone older." Hinata suggested. Sasuke turned and looked at her.

"I don't think that's-"

"That's a great idea!" Sasuke frowned and looked at Sakura. "If Naruto really doesn't know anything, then he'll be happy to learn about his family!" Hinata's smile returned at that. "What do you think, Sasuke?" The three girls all looked at him, and he looked at each of them.

"Tch. Whatever." The other two girls started talking again; or to be accurate, Sakura was talking while Hinata smiled and nodded, but the younger sister stared at him. Sasuke regarded her for a moment before looking over at Naruto.

"You're Uchiha?" He turned back to face the young girl. She was standing beside him, looking up at him with that neutral face of hers. Sakura and Hinata stopped talking and looked at them.

"Yes."

"That means your older brother is the one who killed everyone in your clan, right?" The younger girl asked. Hinata had a worried expression.

"H-Hanabi..."

"Yes." Sasuke said, raising a brow. "What of it?"

"Nothing," The girl sent a wary glance in Hinata's direction before turning to watch Naruto and Konohamaru. Naruto was standing upside down on a branch, holding Konohamaru by his legs. The two were screaming about something or other. "Ane-sama, this is taking really long…" The young girl turned to look at her older sister.

"A-Aa… Then let's go home," She looked at Sasuke apologetically, but he only shrugged. "Sasuke-san, Sakura-san, see you later…" The shy girl looked over at Naruto, who was still up in the tree and laughing at Konohamaru. She looked away and took her sister's hand and the two started walking away. "Hanabi-chan, tell me more about your day…" Sasuke watched the two as they got further and further.

"She and Naruto are fighting in the third round," He noted without looking away.

"Yeah…" Sakura looked over at Sasuke. 'It'll be after our fight.' "Do you think she'll be able to handle it?"

"I don't really care," Sasuke said, sticking his hands in his pockets. "But I guess. Though she seems ill-fit to be a ninja, she's a Hyuuga. She'll do well. I don't think she really has a choice anyway." He turned around and looked over at Naruto.

"She does lack a bit of confidence." Sakura agreed. "What do you mean, though, she doesn't have a choice?"

"She's a Hyuuga." Sasuke said as if it explained everything.

"I don't understand."

An image of Fugaku's face flashed through Sasuke's mind.

"You wouldn't," He said simply. Sakura flinched at his words. "I don't feel like hanging out anymore. See you later." He started walking away, leaving a confused Sakura behind.

"Sasuke-kun?" The girl asked. "Wait, what's wrong?"

"It's…" Sasuke stopped walking and frowned. "…none of your business." He said before he started walking again. Sakura watched him for a moment before turning to look at Naruto and Konohamaru, who still hadn't noticed how much the crowd had shrunk, then walked over to join them. Sasuke glanced back at them long enough to see Naruto and Sakura looking at him, then kept walking.

"What's wrong with that guy?" Naruto asked with a frown. Konohamaru looked up at her.

"I don't know," Sakura said with a sigh. "He just said he didn't feel like hanging out and left."

"Is that right?" Naruto crossed her arms and looked away. "Well, that's just fine. We don't need him to bring us down!" She smiled down at Konohamaru. "So, you still think you got this tree thing down, huh?"

"I did it before!" The kid snapped. "You watch! I'll show you!" Naruto laughed as the boy turned and tried to run up the tree again, only to end up doing a flip and landing on his head. Both genin blinked and quickly ran over to him.

"Hey kid, you all right?" Naruto demanded.

"U-uuhh…"

"Ehh, he'll be fine," Naruto said, waving it off and standing up. "So, Sakura-chan, you still feel like hanging out with me?"

"Huh?" Sakura blinked.

"I know you only stayed for Sasuke," Naruto said with a shrug. "You don't have to stay with me if you don't want to."

"H-huh?" Sakura blinked again. "No, that's not true."

"What? It's not?" Naruto blinked, then smirked. "Does that mean… you finally want to go on a date with me?"

"What? No way!" Sakura scowled. "I'm just trying to be friendly with you."

"Friendly huh?" Naruto rubbed her chin and Konohamaru stood up shakily. "I see, I see…" The girl smirked.

"W, what is it?" Sakura asked nervously.

"Oh, nothing…" Naruto grinned and patted the other girl on her shoulder. "Hmm…"

"Naruto?" Sakura went from nervous to suspicious. "What are you planning?"

"So, if you're being friendly, that means we're friends right?" Naruto said.

"I guess?" Sakura raised an eyebrow, then narrowed her eyes at the blonde. "If you're plotting one of those stupid jokes…"

"Oh no, don't worry!" Naruto held up her hands in innocence, then looked down at Konohamaru. "Say, Konohamaru. Where are those other two friends of yours? Udon and Moegi?"

"H-huh?" The boy blinked. "Oh, those two? They went home already…"

"Eh? Then why were you still here?" Naruto asked.

"Eh, I was supposed to go see Jiji today since mom and dad are going out tonight and Ebisu-sensei is running another errand for him."

"Oh," Naruto blinked. "If he's expecting you, you should go or he'll get worried."

"Oh no! You're right!" The academy student looked up at Naruto. "I'll see you later, Naruto-nii-san!" The two genin waved as the boy took off running. Sakura noticed that the schoolyard was almost empty.

'More time passed than I thought,'

"Ne, Sakura-chan." The pink haired girl looked over at Naruto. "Do you know where Sasuke lives?"

"I think he lives in his house by himself. There's a whole district just for his family." the pink haired girl said. "Why?"

"Oh nothing…" The blonde blinked and looked over at Sakura. "Ne, Sakura-chan, where do _you_ live?"

"What?" The pink haired girl blinked. "Why do you want to know all of a sudden?"

"Err, I just thought it'd help to know, heh heh." Naruto said, rubbing her head.

"Well, okay." Sakura and Naruto were silent for a moment. "So what do you usually do in your free time?" Naruto blinked, then shrugged.

"Not much… just eat Ramen, practice some jutsu... I used to figure out jokes and stuff, but I stopped doing that after the academy…"

"That's all you do?" Sakura asked with a frown. "You don't have any other friends or anything?"

"Naw, not really…" Naruto scratched her head. "Well, I used to hang out with Shikamaru and Kiba and Chouji sometimes… but that was a long time ago. And sometimes, Iruka-sensei will treat me to dinner, but otherwise, I don't got much to do aside from training… daydreams are fun too." The girl said with a shrug. "Why?" Naruto looked at Sakura and noticed the pink haired girl was staring at her.

"Oh, Naruto…" Sakura sighed. 'If you were a girl, this would be so much easier...' Naruto blinked at her. 'I've got to figure out some way to do this…' The blonde suddenly started grinning at her.

"Hey Sakura-chan. You sure you haven't fallen for me?" Sakura sighed again.

"For the last time, I will not go on a date with you. Now stop asking."

"Okay, okay," Naruto said, waving her arms out, but kept grinning. 'There's probably something else she could be doing right now, I bet.' Naruto suddenly had a look of shock on her face. "Oh crap!"

"Huh? What is it, Naruto?" The girl ask.

"I totally forgot! Iruka-sensei said he wanted to see me when I got out of the chuunin exam!" The girl immediately bolted off. "Sorry, Sakura-chan! I'll see you later, okay! Bye!" Sakura blinked as the girl waved at her before turning around a corner.

"Well, I guess that's it for today," Sakura sighed. 'Team bonding is supposed to be easier than this, damn it!'

-

Naruto watched Sakura walk away from behind the corner.

'She'll be fine I guess,' the girl turned and looked away. 'Now to find out where that stupid bastard lives!' Naruto took up a thoughtful looking pose, with her hand cupping her chin. 'Hmm, hmm… Sakura-chan said he has a whole district to himself, right? So then, maybe I can just ask someone…' The blonde turned and looked around the street. Because it was late afternoon, it was fairly empty already, save for a few peddlers standing outside of shops and what not. The blonde walked over to one of the carts and looked up at the man who owned it.

"Hey hey, old man. Where's Uchiha district?" She demanded. The man took one look at her and snorted.

"If you ain't gonna buy anything, then beat it, kid." Naruto crossed her arms at that and scowled.

"Fine! I'll ask someone else!" She stormed away and the man snorted again. Naruto stopped a little ways away and looked around. 'These idiots always treat me the same! Always telling me to get lost or something!' She scowled at that. 'Maybe if I henge into someone else… but who?' The girl looked up at the sky. 'Hmm… Maybe not someone else, but…' Naruto suddenly nodded to herself and looked around. She spotted an alley and quickly walked into it, then made a handseal. "Henge!" There was an eruption of smoke and when it cleared, an older looking Naruto was standing in her place. The young woman had the same orange jumpsuit on, only it was a larger size so as to fit her bigger, shapelier form. She walked out of the alley with a grin on her face.

'This is great! With the forehead protector and an adult body, no one's gonna disrespect me now!'

"Hey kid," Naruto blinked and looked over to the side. There was a big tree on the side of the road with a guy sitting on a bench in its shade. The guy had a leaf forehead protector and wore a jounin vest and the traditional navy blue clothes of Konoha's Ninja. "That's real cute. But you look pretty lame." Naruto frowned at him.

"Oh yeah? Well you look even lamer." The ninja snorted at that.

"Sure, whatever kid." Naruto turned to leave but the ninja kept talking. "Say, why are you looking for the Uchiha District? No one ever goes there,"

"What, you know where it is?" She demanded, looking over at him.

"Sure I do." He said with a shrug. Naruto walked over to him and noticed that he had a senbon in his mouth. "But, do you know too many Ninja who get to be that age and aren't at least chuunin?" Naruto blinked; she had been going for Kakashi-sensei's age with the henge.

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"The vest. Chuunin and Jounin usually wear a special vest," He thumbed his own.

"Not all the time." She said, crossing her arms. "And what does that have to do with anything?"

"Just sayin'," the man said with a shrug. "No one'd be fooled by that disguise."

"Oh yeah?" She glared at him.

"The clothes are the same, those unique facial marks are the same, your hair is the same... only difference is that you're a woman. What made you decide to be a woman anyway? I'll admit it was creative but just changing your gender and age won't fool anyone if you look exactly the same afterwards." Naruto fumed as he kept talking.

"N-no one asked you!" Naruto looked away in defiance.

"Heh, well okay," He said. "It's not my fault you can't take a few pointers."

"Are you gonna tell me where the Uchiha district is or what?!"

"Ehh..." The man frowned. "Why do you wanna go there anyway?"

"My friend lives there," She uncrossed her arms. "So where is it?"

"Your friend, huh..." The man pointed down the road. "s' in that general direction."

"Huh? That's it?! 'In that general direction'!?" Naruto scowled at him. "Oh great, thanks a lot!" She turned and leapt up onto a nearby roof and started hopping away.

Genma smirked, stood up from the bench and stretched. 'That was one of Kakashi's kids, the ones who've been doing really well in the chuunin exam so far.' He shook his head. 'He sure wants to get rid of them quick, doesn't he?'

--

"So, you made it," Kakashi was standing on a rooftop with an older looking man.

"Sensei sent word that Naruto had used the Kyuubi's Chakra by accident," Jiraiya said. "I came as quickly as I could, barring necessary stops for valuable research, of course."

"Of course, that's of _utmost_ importance," Kakashi said with a nod. "Anyway, I've been training her a bit more seriously than I originally intended to, and she's managed to get through the first two parts of the Chuunin exams with her teammates. However, to be honest, she's not a level where she can really compete with chuunin level ninja, or even other chuunin hopefuls."

"Her getting this far has been a fluke then."

"Yeah, mostly." Kakashi said, rubbing his head in embarrassment. "I didn't really think they'd make it this far, see…" Jiraiya snorted.

"You thought they could use the experience?"

"Yeah. The Chuunin exam is great for real combat simulations, but unfortunately, we had a disaster, and some rather unforeseen results." Kakashi tapered off in a more sober tone. Jiraiya narrowed his eyes at the younger ninja.

"Orochimaru."

"Yeah." Kakashi sighed. "Fortunately, he didn't get the cursed seal on Sasuke. The other teammate took his place at the last second."

"And she survived," Jiraiya nodded. "I know that much. I gotta say it's a surprise that she did, from what I know of her, but oh well."

"Yeah, and that's something else I wanted to talk to you about. But about Naruto…" Jiraiya snorted.

"You want me to train the brat to near chuunin level in a month," the older man said. "I get that much. You're lucky it's _his_ daughter, or I wouldn't do this even for you."

"You wouldn't? Even for your favorite student's favorite student?"

"Hmph. You weren't his favorite, and you definitely aren't mine." Kakashi slumped over.

"I'm hurt."

"Good. You should be, asking your elders to cover for your incompetence. I'm not just any Ninja, you know…" The man muttered.

"But this is a favor, right? I'll pay you back somehow." Kakashi's eye lit up. "Ah yes, I know just how…"

"What? What is it?"

"Naruto-kun knows a Jutsu that will make everything worth your time," Kakashi said with a grin. "I'll set everything up for you."

"Oh ho?" Jiraiya grinned. "Is it that good?"

"Even better," Kakashi chuckled. "Now, about teaching Naruto…"

"I'll figure that out, don't you worry your little head over that. You concentrate on working with that Uchiha boy, and the other teammate."

"Actually, while I'm fine with Sasuke, the other one will need your help too." Jiraiya frowned. "Like I was saying earlier, about her cursed seal. I sealed it myself, but…" He shook his head. "All traces of the cursed seal disappeared sometime during her prelim fight." Jiraiya scrunched his brow when he processed that.

"Disappeared?"

"Yep. I don't know exactly what happened but I don't want to just accept it at face value."

"That would be foolish…" Jiraiya muttered in agreement. "Which one did you say it was? Heaven seal?" Kakashi nodded. "I'll have to check her out. She might have to pull out of final exam if I can't figure out what's wrong by then."

"That might be bad." Kakashi sighed. Jiraiya nodded.

"I can't imagine she'd be too pleased to hear that." The older white haired man looked at the younger one. "Well, is that it?"

"Pretty much, yeah… Though, I have to ask. Do you plan to teach her Sensei's original jutsu?"

"Of course, all of the ones I know myself. He has some scrolls worked out for her too." Jiraiya snorted.

"Then you don't mind if I teach Sasuke mine, do you?"

"Knock yourself out," Jiraiya snorted with a wave. "Minato's Jutsu will always be superior to that one."

"Oh… you always say such mean things."

"I'm your sensei's sensei, I'm allowed to say mean things." Jiraiya turned away and put a foot up on the edge. "If that's all, I'm going to go do some research." He stopped, suddenly remembering who he was talking to, then turned around and grinned. "Would you like to join me?"

"Why, certainly," Kakashi said, walking over to join him. "I would be honored!"

--

Naruto grinned when she finally stopped in front of the sign marked "Uchiha District".

'So this is where that guy's family lives... or lived, anyway.' She looked up at the two Uchiwa that decorated the entrance. 'Don't feel like hanging out anymore, huh? Well that's too bad!' The young woman walked into the abandoned district and started looking around. There was a small empty shop marked 'Uchiha Senbei' close to the entrance, along with a number of other buildings. 'Heh, wonder how he'll react to my new look!'

She walked around for what felt like forever, looking in and around abandoned buildings and empty roads. Homes, shops, everything she could look into or around, all of it was totally empty and void of any human presence.

'If I had a whole district to myself, I'd sure do a lot more with it than this,' She thought with a frown. 'But man this place sure is creepy,' Naruto looked around and had to fight the chills that crept up her spine. All of the empty buildings and streets had a lonely, desolate feel to them even though they looked well kept. Because of this, the Uchiha district had a uniquely haunting appearance; it was like the district itself was waiting for everyone to come back.

'That idiot lives here all by himself?' She shook her head and kept walking around. 'Place is too big and empty for one guy. Wonder why his brother went crazy and killed everyone anyway?' She was at the edge of the Uchiha district, and some of the buildings were a bit more familiar now. 'Hey, I've seen these buildings before... Walking home from the park. There's a lake down that road...'

The blonde ran down the street and around the corner, then looked around. There was a small lake with a pier opposite the shore she was on. Sitting on the pier was Sasuke. The other teen was looking down at the water, but she couldn't see him in detail from her distance.

'Heh! Found you!'

--

Sasuke looked down at his reflection in the water.

"..."

He picked one of the rocks sitting next to him on the pier and skipped it across the water. It bounced six times before it sank.

"Ooh, that was pretty cool." Sasuke immediately turned his head and looked up in the direction  
of the unfamiliar voice. Standing there was... Naruto. An older, more... womanly looking version of her, but definitely her. The same clothes, markings, hairstyle and color were all dead giveaways.

"Naruto?" Sasuke squinted at the girl. "What is that ridiculous disguise?"

"Hey hey, whaddya mean, 'ridiculous disguise'?" She demanded, looking at herself in the water. "I look cool!"

"You look the same as always," The Uchiha snorted.

"Oh really?" Naruto looked at him and smirked. She reached up to her jacket and unzipped it so that her bountiful assets were more visible.

"Put those away!" Sasuke snapped as his face started to heat up. Naruto chuckled and took up an innocent pose with both of her arms framing her chest so that her breasts stood out even more.

"But I did this just for you," She said in an innocent voice. "Sasuke-kuuun."

"Oh god." Sasuke turned away as quickly as he could and looked down at the water. 'My face...'

"Don't look away from me, Sasuke-kun. I'm not that ugly, am I?" He ignored the girl's prodding.

"Naruto... stop that."

"Stop what?" The innocent voice continued and she leaned over, then put an arm around him. Sasuke froze when he felt her press her breasts into his back.

'Should a Henge even be able to do all this!?'

"...Sasuke?" The girl paused for a moment and looked down at his reflection in the water, then giggled. "Your face is all red... I knew it!"

"W-what?" Sasuke noticed her smirk in the water and she suddenly released her henge. When the smoke cleared, the girl was still leaning on him with a smirk.

"I knew it! You're as pervy as every other guy!"

"The hell are you talking about?!"

"I saw your face! I bet you were thinking gross thoughts about me! Sicko! Perv!"

"I was not," He snapped back. "I couldn't ever think about you like that, you moron!"

"Uh huh! Sure you couldn't!" She sneered at their reflections in the water. "Well, I guess that answers the question about whether or not you're gay."

"What?!" Sasuke growled and looked at her. "Who was ever asking that question?!"

"The whole village," Naruto snorted. "You've got at least ten girls chasing after you and you never even bother to take any of them out or anything. You don't even spend time with them!" Sasuke suddenly stood up, knocking the girl off of her feet. The blond landed on her butt with a loud thump and she looked up at him angrily. "Hey! What was that for!?"

"I don't like any of those girls," Sasuke snorted, ignoring the girl and turning to leave. "Too shallow and weak."

"Why would that matter? I thought most guys liked that."

'Hmph. You really don't know much about what guys like, then.' He looked down at her. "What the hell do you want, dobe? Can't you go annoy someone else?"

"Heh heh, no way! I'm here to find out what it is that's bothering you, anyway! Telling Sakura that you don't feel like hanging out with us and then just leaving? What's up with that! I thought we were supposed to be friends!"

"Hmph…" Sasuke frowned at that. "I don't want to tell you. Go home."

"Hey hey, now wait a minute! Weren't you the one crying about keeping secrets before?" The blonde demanded. When he didn't respond right away, Naruto grinned. "Now you're being a hypocrite!"

"Go home," Sasuke snorted. "You wouldn't understand it."

"Oh come on, at least give me a chance you moron," She said. "Come on, why don't you just tell me what it is? You know my secrets already. Tell me yours!"

"Oh please, I had to learn everything I know about you by myself."

"Well, uh… shit." Naruto blinked. "Uhm… hmm… Well, you know it anyway. I'm not going to leave you alone until you tell me what it is!"

"Yes you will," Sasuke narrowed his eyes.

"Oh ho, so now you want to play huh?" She grinned up at him. "I can play with you all day and night long, but I'm not leaving until you tell me what's up."

"Hmph…" Sasuke frowned. "Why do you call it 'playing' when we fight?"

"Because?" She shrugged. "I dunno. So are you going to tell me what it is, or am I gonna have to follow you around forever?" Sasuke glared at her. "Oh come on, I'm not asking for your life story or anything," She said. "Just tell me what's up today. You were fine until we ran into Hinata."

"…" Sasuke turned to look at the setting sun. "I…" Naruto waited for a moment.

"You what?"

"It's getting late. Shouldn't you be going home for the night?"

"I'll be fine, I'm a big girl," Naruto snorted. "Come on, tell me what's wrong already."

Sasuke looked up at the sun for a little while longer and finally sat down beside her.

"When you see the other kids going home with their parents or siblings, how does that make you feel?" Sasuke asked suddenly. Naruto blinked.

"W-well, sometimes, when I was younger, I used to wonder what it would be like to have an older sibling or parent walk me home," Naruto admitted. "But after a while, I started putting myself on the other side, thinking what it would be like if I was the older one." There was silence for a moment before Sasuke spoke up.

"Having a family…" The boy looked down at the water. "It's different from anything you can imagine because you've always been alone." Naruto looked at him. "But I used to have one. My brother wasn't the most attentive one, my father wasn't very easy to get along with, and my mother was strict sometimes, but…I miss them."

The two sat in silence as the sun sank further over the horizon.

"I guess I wouldn't understand," Naruto started after a number of minutes had passed, "Since like you said, I never had a family. But…" Sasuke looked at her. "When I'm with Iruka-sensei, I wonder, if maybe this is what having a father is like? When I'm with Sakura… I wonder if it's like having a sister." Sasuke didn't bother asking what she thought of him.

'So that's why she was calling me 'nii-chan' and asking those questions in the tower…' He shook his head at that, then stood up. "It really is getting late. You should go home."

"Wait a minute, wait a minute," Naruto said, joining him. "I wanna see your house!"

"What? Why?"

"Ne ne, it's gotta be pretty cool if you're willing to stay in this big lonely place all by yourself just to live there, right? Lemme see it!"

"No. I don't need you knowing where I live, I'd live in constant fear of something strange happening."

"You mean you don't already?"

"Hmph. Just go home, Naruto."

"Hmm…" The girl grinned. "If you won't show me, then I'll tell everyone about what happened earlier…"

"What?" Sasuke growled and looked over at Naruto. The girl grinned and pointed at her chest in a vulgar way, and Sasuke blushed. "No one will believe you."

"Even if they don't it won't be hard to have a repeat performance in the near future," She said with a wink. "And next time, I'll make sure there's an audience!"

"…You would," Sasuke sighed, and shook his head. "If I show you my house, then you have to promise never to even bring it up again."

"Promise!"

"Don't blatantly cross your fingers when you say it," Sasuke snapped. She put her hands behind her back and snickered. The boy sighed. 'That lazy idiot was right. You are a troublesome woman.'

--

Sakura sighed. She was sitting with Ino on a bench outside of Ino's flower shop. The two had been talking ever since she had shown up, asking if Ino was free. It had been the first time in a while that the two had a long conversation.

"So what do you guys do when you're team bonding?" The pink haired girl asked. "Sasuke-kun and Naruto always manage to ditch me."

"Hmm… well, they're both stubborn guys, I'm sure they have their own things they want to do that don't even involve your team," Ino said. "Sasuke-kun especially. He doesn't like hanging around people."

"I know that." Sakura snorted. Ino laughed.

"Anyway… What we do with Asuma sensei, I guess that could be called team bonding. But it's all we ever do. We never train and we only do the bare minimum of missions," She growled out. "That's why you were able to win, I'm sure of it. Asuma sensei hasn't taught us anything at all since we left, and the only time I train is with dad when I get home."

"Oh…" Sakura blinked. 'That's right, Inoichi-san is a ninja too… But neither of my parents can help me with that.'

"All we ever do is play board games and eat. Chouji does most of the eating," Ino sighed. "They're all so lazy…"

"Um, well, have you tried talking to Sarutobi-san about that?"

"I have a few times, but the only time he ever said anything that sounded even remotely like 'Okay' was today, when I lost to you!" The blonde seethed. "He's just as lazy as Shikamaru, but it's worse because he's supposed to be a responsible adult! He's nowhere near as cool as your sensei."

"Eh, heh heh…" Sakura laughed. "Kakashi-sensei is kind of lazy too… And he's a bit of a pervert…"

"He can't be that bad," Ino said. "He taught you Suiton Jutsus and improved your Taijutsu. You were like a real ninja back there, for once." Ino said, winking.

"Hey, I am a real ninja! I'll be a chuunin by the end of next month, too."

"Oh?" Ino grinned. "Can you beat Sasuke-kun?" Sakura only hesitated for a second.

"Of course I will. I can't… I can't let him hold me back." Ino sat back and looked at her friend, then smiled.

"You've thought about this, then?"

"A bit," Sakura admitted.

"Well then. I've decided!" Sakura blinked and looked over at her.

"Decided what?" Ino smiled.

"Who I'm going to cheer for in your fight."

"Oh?" Sakura blinked. "You won't cheer for Sasuke-kun?"

"Of course I will," the blonde snorted. "Who did you think I was going to cheer for? You?"

"No way," Sakura rolled her eyes. "I didn't think that at all."

"Anyway. You figured out what to do about Sasuke-kun and Naruto?"

"Hey, that's what we were supposed to be talking about!" Sakura said. "You said you'd help me figure something out about that!"

"Oh, did I really?" Ino looked up in mock confusion. "Hey, why do you want to try and be friends with them all of a sudden anyway?"

"Kakashi-sensei said it'd be easier for us to work as a team if we weren't strangers." Sakura said.

"That's true. I've known Chouji and Shikamaru for a long time because our parents were friends." the blonde nodded. "We know each other very well. We do work well as a team, when we finally get working… still don't get much done."

"Those two are both too lazy."

"Yeah, that's true. But anyway, I'm thinking that this is probably something you would be better suited to doing after just spending more time with the two. If they want to ditch you at every corner, follow them around, stubbornly refusing to leave them alone! Just by doing that you should be able to figure out what to do to connect with them."

"Are you sure?" Sakura asked. "That's never worked for Sasuke-kun and you know it."

"Hmm… well, maybe not." Sakura almost facefaulted. "I guess you can just try something. Maybe a different approach?"

"I guess…" Sakura sighed. "It's getting dark, huh?"

"Yeah! There's a few stars out already! What are you still doing here? Go on! Go home! You don't want to wait out too late, that's when the molesters come out!"

"Uh-huh," Sakura grinned. "If I see any molesters, I'll just kick them in the balls and run away." The two girls snickered as they stood up and Sakura started walking away. "See you later, Ino-pig."

"You too, forehead! Later!" The blonde girl waved and Sakura rolled her eyes. "Oh, that's right. I went by your place earlier and your parents said they had something important to tell you!"

"Okay!"

--

"Man, this place _is_ cool! Your house is pretty big!" Sasuke merely stood in the yard while Naruto looked around in awe.

"Everything in this district is mine." Sasuke said. "But this is the house I've lived in as far as I can remember."

"_Everything_?" Naruto asked.

"Yes."

"Wow… You're really rich, then, aren't you?" Naruto frowned and crossed her arms. "But if that's true, why don't you try running some stores or something, get some attractions going and have people come in? You'd make even more money!" Sasuke raised an eyebrow and looked at the girl.

"You want me to turn this district into some sort of amusement park or something?"

"Not really an amusement park, but… Yeah? I mean, if you just hire some people to run things that you can't…"

"That's a stupid idea," Sasuke shook his head. "Forget it."

"Oh, well, okay… your loss." Naruto ran over to the door and opened it, then walked into the house. "Man, I'm starved! What do you have to eat around here?"

"Eat?" Sasuke glared at the blonde as soon as he followed her in. "You said you just wanted to see it. And leave your shoes at the door, dobe." He kicked off his own sandals and left them in the genkan.

"I want to see the inside of it too!"

"That doesn't involve eating," Sasuke snapped.

"Sure it does! I want to get the whole experience of 'Living with Sasuke'! Maybe then I'll figure out why you're such a stiff!"

"Stiff?" Sasuke had an exasperated look on his face. "I am not a stiff."

"Sure you are!" Naruto called from some room. The noise echoed through the hallway. "You're stiffer than stiff!"

"Hmph. That's just what you think…"

"That's what everyone thinks!" Naruto said as she walked into the room. "But really, this place ain't bad. A bit big, but it's got nothin' on my place, though…"

"Oh really?" Sasuke rolled his eyes. "If that's true, then maybe we'll go to your house tomorrow."

"Eh-heh… err, don't you want to start training tomorrow?" She asked.

"Oh no," Sasuke grinned at her reaction. "I'd much rather see your place, if it's so much better than this."

"O-oh, well you better be prepared to be blown away," Naruto snorted. Sasuke chuckled.

"Oh, I'm sure I will be."

"Heh, now, about dinner…"

"Why do you want to eat here? Didn't you promise that old man that you were going to be there tonight, anyway? Won't he be disappointed if you don't show up?"

"That's okay, it's not like they're waiting for me or anything. He'll understand," She looked around the room with a wild grin. "So, weren't you going to cook me dinner? Where's the kitchen?" She asked as she walked down the hallway again. "If you don't come on, I'll show them how pervy you are!"

'She's going to lord that over me forever, isn't she…' Sasuke sighed as he reluctantly started after her.

-

When Sakura walked into her house, she was immediately greeted by a hug from her mother.

"Sakura-chan! You're back! You're okay!"

"Uh, hi mom, I'm home," Sakura said. "Sorry for not coming earlier. I was out with friends for most of the day."

"That's okay, dear, your parents understand that they're too boring and unimportant for you to want to see right away," Her mom said, standing back.

"Mooom..." Her mother winked at her and her father walked into the room with a smirk on his face.

"Heh heh... We heard how well you did, honey. You make us so proud," The girl blushed.

"Daaad..." Sakura looked up at her parents. "Oh yeah! Ino-chan said you had something to tell me?"

"Oh, right… So uh, how are your two teammates getting along?" Her father asked. "Uchiha and Nam... Uzumaki?"

"Oh, they're just fine," The girl said, taking a mental note of the slip up. "It turns out that they just needed to blow off some steam before. They're all friendly now, for some reason..."

"A-ah... is that right," Her father asked. "Okay then..."

"Is that it?" Sakura asked.

"Yeah, it is," Her father said.

"Now that that's out the way..." Her mother said, clapping her hands. "I have a surprise waiting for you in the kitchen, Sakura-chan..." The pink haired girl's eyes widened.

"You didn't..." she said, before suddenly bolting off across the room and through a door to the kitchen. "Oh! You did!" The girl's cries of delight were muffled when she started stuffing her face.

"See? I told you we didn't need to tell her anything. If she remembers her 'dream', she'll be able to figure it out whenever she wants, anyway."

"Eh, fine... But, she always goes crazy over those cookies." Sakura's father looked at his wife in suspicion. "What the hell do you put in them?" She only winked and stuck out her tongue in response before going to join her daughter. 'Well, at least she looks better today than she has for the past month or so... Maybe it has to do with Ino coming over for the first time in so long..?'


End file.
